On December 19, 2021, Venus is going retrograde in Capricorn. For 40 days and nights she is heading to the underworld, in this case aligned with Pluto the God of the underworld himself, before she is reborn as a morning star. Venus retrogrades rarely. Where the other planets retrograde at least once a year, Venus and Mars only retrograde about every two years. 

Venus in Capricorn is about building something of lasting value that will withstand the test of time. It is about quality, not quantity. 

So, what do you truly wish to build as you head into 2022?

From an evolutionary astrological perspective, retrogrades within the natal chart are about reclaiming something within your soul that was wounded in a past life. For example, retrograde Jupiter is about reclaiming confidence, retrograde Mercury is about reclaiming your voice and retrograde Venus is about reclaiming your sense of worth. Of your own innate value. 

In 2020, I wrote about the concept of Selah: Occurring between verses or paragraphs in parts of the Hebrew Bible, it is a mysterious word of enigmatic meaning at the end of verses in the Psalms: sometimes viewed as a musical direction(the Psalms were originally sung), to indicate a pause for Holy contemplation. Retrogrades indicate a need to pause. To contemplate. (To read the full Selah article please click here)

With Venus in retrograde at the beginning of the year, I urge you to hold off on making any New Year’s resolutions until after the 29th of January when she goes direct if you want them to take hold. 

Astronomically Venus is an astonishing planet and sacred geometry is very much alive within her orbit: Many know it as the pentagram of Venus. The word pentagram, or five-sided figure, is used because, over the eight years, each phenomenon, each relative position of Earth, Venus, and the sun, occurs five times creating a five pointed star. We see this same star when we cut an apple horizontally in half…it is no wonder that apples, symbolizing desire, were considered sacred to the Goddess. At the bottom of this email is an image drawn in 1799 of Venus' exquisite path in the heavens. 

From my perspective, any Venus retrograde offers an opportunity, an invitation, to turn your gaze inward making the time to get to the heart of your desires. Specifically your soul’s desires(after all your soul selected your chart). To listen their call and consciously attune yourself. What is always extraordinary to me is that when I do this, or guide clients and students in how to do this, the response in the outer world is profound and feels nothing short of miraculous. 

Part of the way I gaze upon Venus is that where she lies within our chart points to where we are learning to be receptive, to be open. Where we are learning how to honor ourselves and our desires. Where we are learning how to receive. Venus is the Goddess of self love. In myth she never questioned her self worth or the value her desires. She was worshiped from the moment she was born and instantly adorned with jewels by the people around her. She had no self doubt. She was powerfully shameless, as in she felt no shame consciously or unconsciously that prevented her from living the life she sought.
When we align with our Venus, in essence apprenticing ourselves to her, the world opens. After all she symbolizes the principle of desire, magnetic desire specifically. She governs how we draw things to ourselves. Aphrodite’s (Greek Version of Venus) girdle was said to make her irresistible. But truly when we align and work with the archetypal energy of Venus we don’t need a magic girdle to draw things toward us, because in essence she is the power of love that births all things and holds the world together. 

Within all of us is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that we need and desire. I vividly remember the first time I truly heard this concept. I was driving across the county listening to Wayne Dyer in the mid 90’s when I heard him say “What you desire, desires you.” At that point in my life that was a deliciously shocking concept. At its core this statement too is about the essence of love as a power, that everything is connected. Venus is about the power of connection. 

For the the first time I am offering a Venus Retrograde workshop, Entering the Sacred Grotto of Venus, designed to teach you how to harness the energy of your personal Venus. We will practice attuning ourselves, through guided meditations, imagery, self care practices, visualizations, myth-making and creative projects. Essentially, is it a 40 day apprenticeship to self love and self care as we kick off the New Year. We will get to the core of your true desires supporting your in actively setting your 2022 intentions, aligning with them and being magnetic. I know, it sounds completely woo-woo but I swear it works! And it’s fun! This is a Zoom Workshop so you can participate from anywhere. 

Even though we are working with Venus this is not a traditional astrological class. This is an embodied experiential workshop (yes, even over zoom) personalized to the participants. Yes, we will actively be working with your personal Venus’ and the charts of others in class but there will not be an overview of Venus in all twelve signs. You may learn some astrology but what I am aiming at is being able to consciously live our charts. Our natal chart is a guide, an alchemical compass, to our journey here in this lifetime. 

That’s why it can be so eerily accurate when working predictively. It’s a map, but more holographic than a map. It has tales to tell and can act as a wise guide. When we consciously align with it in an embodied empowered way we experience being on purpose. Our chart can act as such a magical device, it’s designed to, but we have to bring our own awareness to it.  

As in all of my classes this will be a small group to facilitate an intimate setting. And for the first time in addition to class time I am giving each student a private, 30 minute, one on one to more profoundly explore and illuminate the message of their Venus.

I have actively used Venus’ cycle herself in the design of the workshop because with such profound sacred geometry how could I not?. 

Entering the Sacred Grotto Of Venus begins on Sunday December 19th at 2:15pm MST (Sedona time) the day Venus enters retrogradation. Classes are 2 hours in length, and beginning on January 2 will commence at 2pm. The initial 2:15 start time is also a Venus alignment whose energy I wanted to infuse into the initial class. 

Five meetings mirroring the pentagram of Venus. Two weeks where a recorded guided meditation is sent to all and one private 30 minute recorded session for a total of 8 to mirror her eight year cycle. 

Schedule:

*Sunday, December 19 

*Sunday, December 26: No meeting, downloadable guided meditation sent to all

*Sunday, January 2

*Sunday, January 9

*Sunday, January 16

*Sunday, January 23: No meeting, new downloadable guided meditation sent to all

*Sunday, January 29

There will also be a private Facebook group for workshop members to further discuss and share experiences. Participants will receive recordings of all classes, including their private session, it is not necessary to attend in person ( Although I highly recommend being live for at least some of the classes).  


Entering the Grotto of Venus $250


To register for please email me directly at Sedonaastrologer@gmail.com or call/text 213-268-0641

We have reached the time of the year associated with depth and mystery. The velvety night deepens in length and the Scorpio New Moon, exact on November 4th at 2:14pm PDT,  arrives during the holiday honoring the dead. From October 31 through November 7, when the Sun reaches the middle degree of Scorpio, we in the Northern Hemisphere reach the midpoint between fall and winter. Christians call it All Soul’s Day; for children, it’s Halloween; for pagans, it’s Samhain (pronounced “sow-wane”).

If I have a favorite sign it is Scorpio, which doesn’t even figure prominently within my own chart.  But I find Scorpio’s depth and passion mesmerizing. Scorpio is never superficial. Never.   It is focused, probing and intense. Full of mystery and magic, Scorpio guides our relationship with the “other side”—the invisible worlds hidden from ordinary view. 
Scorpio is connected to the cycle of death and rebirth. The glorious Phoenix rising from the ashes.  In life we often tend to focus on the what we see as beauty of the rising, missing the perspective  that the rising doesn’t occur on its own but is part of a larger equally beautiful cycle that first experiences the ashes, the death and release of the known.  
Scorpio’s modern ruler Pluto is the God of the Underworld and wealth. This particular New Moon is inviting us to go deeply within. To explore our own hidden realms and dig for treasure.  To surrender and release. 
In Fairy tales, the forest symbolizes the wild place beyond that safety of the known where transformation can occur.  To truly live the Scorpion energy within our charts, to transfigure at our deepest levels, we have to be willing to relinquish control, let go of the known. To truly experience a metamorphosis within our lives we are called to place our trust in the unknown.  To connect with our wild selves. 
When we consciously enter the forest and enter it willingly knowing that we will come out changed, in ways both imagined and not, we are acting from the best of Scorpio. For this act requires true bravery, it requires that we make ourselves exquisitely vulnerable by lowering our defenses and moving past our cynicism about what is possible for ourselves and our lives. 

What can you let go of that you’ve been hanging onto?

What do you need to release to make room for the new?

When we release “the dead” we create more space within our life.  When we release we invite new “life” in from the universe.   

As Rainer Maria Rilke said “Our deepest fears are like dragons, guarding our deepest treasure.” 

During this month’s new Moon light a candle, take a moment to ground and center yourself and then gaze into the shadowed hidden parts within.  Take a deep breath and ask yourself “What do I need to release?” Then pause and listen. Wait.  Let all of the known, expected possibilities arise. Then take another deep breath, go deeper and ask again.  Don’t rush yourself, there will be an inner click of recognition when you arrive.  Allow yourself to be surprised.   Then repeat the process again only this time ask “What is my deepest desire?”

​When you have finished close by creating a new intention revealed from the depths within.