The past week has been an intense emotional roller coaster, and I’ve definitely felt the fangs of retrograde Venus.

Last Wednesday, I was packed into a dining room with 100 people. It was one of 3,500 similar gatherings around the country, with an estimated 100,000 supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders all tuned in to a live-streaming broadcast over the Internet of his message for those who want to help him get elected.

Before the broadcast began, there was a chance for participants to share their stories – why they’re supporting Bernie, their history of political activism, their hopes for a true revolution, and why this time it feels different from previous campaigns in which candidates made promises they had no intention of keeping once they got into the White House. Each speaker stood before the group, speaking from the heart while others nodded and called out encouraging comments. At the end, each one received hearty applause.

I suddenly had a vision of a tribal council and felt a connection with an ancient tradition of government by consensus. I knew right away that it was what I had been envisioning as an outcome of the Uranus-Pluto square, with its breakdown of top-down rulership, to be replaced with a true democracy by the people and for the people. I’ve written many times in this blog about the need for people to come together as communities in cooperation and mutual support. Here it was, right before my eyes. It was exhilarating and magical.

That is how I had planned to start this forecast. The only problem is that it didn’t take long for the bubble to burst. My annoyance had been growing with one person in the group who felt entitled to order people around. Rather than bringing it before the group, I addressed my feelings directly. It didn’t go over very well at all, and for a couple of days, I was thinking of pulling out entirely. After giving it some thought, I realized that it was giving that person too much power to leave on their account. It was going to be awkward, but I figured I’d step up to Saturn’s demands for responsibility, accountability, and maturity.

As all of this was going on, I was working feverishly on a video we filmed at the Strawberry Festival on July 18. It was plagued with technical problems – of course, with Uranus and Venus both turning retrograde, she in precision-oriented Virgo at the time. I was tearing my hair out trying to fix multiple issues and staying up until the birds started singing. There were a lot of other campaign issues to address, too, not the least of which was Bernie’s visit to Seattle this Saturday and the logistics of how to get off the island with the ferry dock under heavy reconstruction. “Overload” doesn’t even begin to describe.

Maybe that’s why it hit me so hard yesterday when I read that Bernie is holding a meet-and-greet party with a minimum donation of $200 required to attend. My heart sank into my feet in slow-motion while my brain struggled to process the information. My candidate, the guy who says he’s for fairness, equality, and empowerment of the poor and middle class, is going to have one gigantic event for the unwashed masses and another for those with money.

I shared my disappointment on Facebook and immediately got beat up. That wasn’t as bad, though, as the realization that everyone else not only was OK with a pay-for-access event, but they rationalized it by saying he absolutely needed the money if he was going to beat Hillary. It was a double punch to the gut. My faith in my candidate was dinged, and I suddenly felt on the outside, cut off from the tribe, as it were. Among the biggest ironies was that one of the people I interviewed for the video had reservations about Bernie, and I was going to pass and interview someone else, but I instantly self-corrected, realizing that dissent is good and necessary in a free, fair, and just society.

We can probably pin this on Saturn’s return direct, with a square this week from Jupiter, Mercury, and retrograde Venus. Venus-Saturn squares are known for feelings of isolation and alienation, but it has been doubly so with Venus retrograde. The thought of working with so many others toward a better world was energizing. Being cut off took the wind out of my sails and extinguished my enthusiasm.

If nothing else, it’s a good reminder of what happens when we feel cut off from the rest of society. There is a theory going around that feeling disconnected is the main cause of addiction in the human population. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s a major factor. Addiction and depression often go hand in hand. The implications are huge.

With Venus retrograde, how we relate to others will continue to be a major theme. Leo is the sign of the heart, so one of our big challenges is relating from the heart. Combined with the demands of Saturn, we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to speak honestly from the true center of our beings. We may be misunderstood – and there’s a good chance we will be (as I just discovered) – but we have to speak the truth anyway. It’s hard not to feel hurt when we open up and others don’t accept us, but we need to open up anyway.

Leo likes to be the center of attention and often attracts a circle of friends and allies, just like planets revolving around the Sun, Leo’s planetary ruler. Normally that works fine, but with Venus retrograde, the need to be the center of the universe could get obnoxious and annoying. If you are one of those people and don’t realize the effect you’re having on others, don’t be surprised if you get called out in the next week or two. You may have to back off a bit and let others have a turn in the spotlight, but it might also be helpful to step back and think about your need for attention and the best ways to fulfill it without hogging it all to yourself.

Leo also is associated with children, who often are more sensitive to astrological energies than adults. If they act out, there may not be a “reason,” at least not one that makes sense. This may be your Venus-Jupiter-Saturn moment of rising to the occasion and finding a clever way to handle outbursts.

In general, responsibility is a prominent theme this week. The question – and the challenge – is how much responsibility you can handle. Are you taking on more than you can reasonably accomplish? This is a particular problem in the workplace, where more and more responsibility is placed on one person in order to cut costs. Worse, the additional responsibility may not come with a commensurate salary increase. And in a tight job market, complaining about the unfairness can count against you.

If you’re self-employed, you might find that you are in a highly active period with more work coming in than you can manage, especially it comes with deadlines. That has been my issue for the past month, which is why I’ve been getting later and later posting the weekly forecast.

The influx for me began right around the first Venus-Jupiter conjunction, which peaked at the Full Moon on July 1. Others reported a similar pattern, although not all of you experienced a boost. As always, what I write in this forecast is general and may not apply if your personal transits run contrary to the overall trend. The new opportunities weren’t without some drawbacks, primarily in that we already felt overloaded. The constraints were indicated in the approaching square from Venus and Jupiter to Saturn, the planet of responsibilities, obligations, and limitations.

This week, the square to Saturn reaches a peak, with Mercury thrown into the mix for added stress. On Monday, Jupiter squares Saturn. Venus conjoins Jupiter on Tuesday and squares Saturn on Wednesday. Mercury conjoins Venus and squares Saturn on Thursday, then conjoins Jupiter on Friday before entering Virgo later in the day. It’s interesting to note the Jupiter will square Saturn again in March 2016, with Jupiter in Virgo and Saturn in Sagittarius. Venus will be in Pisces at the time, so that we’ll have a mutable T-square. So it looks like we’ll continue to adjust to current changes for the next eight to nine months.

Some people actually thrive in high-stress, high-activity periods. I’m not one of them; I get overwhelmed easily lately, and being overloaded trips a switch that shuts the whole system down. For those of you who do well in a fast-paced environment, this week could be extraordinarily productive. And for those who need an extra boost, a trine from Mars to Saturn should act as a jolt of cosmic caffeine. The aspect peaks on Thursday, but we’ll feel it for most of the week. This is also a terrific aspect to channel emotional energy into something useful, whether it’s a good workout at the gym, a fiery letter to the editor, or a fundraising event.

Mars leaves Cancer on Saturn and enters Leo, a compatible fire sign. There has been an epidemic of road rage on our tiny island over the past week, which I attribute to Mars in Cancer. Once he moves into Leo, drivers should start behaving better. Physical energy gets a boost, too, especially for performing artists and competitive athletes. For those with desk jobs or sedentary lifestyles, it will be important to get up and move about more often, even if it’s just for a walk around the block. With Mercury in Virgo, we might be inclined to stay at our computers for hours on end, and nervous energy will get pent up.

The last thing I’d like to mention is that there are two major anniversaries on Thursday. The first one is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As I mentioned in last week’s forecast, the focus on nuclear weapons is ironic, given that we just reached Pluto, the planetary ruler of the bomb.

The second important date is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That was the year of the first Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the cycle that has now reached the first square. As I’ve noted many times before, many of the major issues we’re facing today date back to the 1960s. It hasn’t been lost on me that Bernie Sanders was cutting his political teeth around the time of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction, and it’s only now, as we’re nearing the end of the first square that he’s gaining national attention.

Much love and courage to all,
Pat

© Pat Paquette, RealAstrologers.com, 2015.