Can't Hardly Wait (for the Future)

11.11.08


Tonight's (Tue Nov 11) Venus-Pluto conjunction in the final degree of Sagittarius is not only a commanding indicator of bold advances forward…

… but also a defiant 'screw you' to the excessive details, irritating technicalities and bureaucracy-style delays that would otherwise keep us stuck where we are.

Venus in Sagittarius craves the excitement of actions that appear to be 'going somewhere', possessing rather little tolerance for killing time in waiting rooms or holding chambers, in hopes that permission will be granted or official blessings bestowed. She's eager to make every moment count.

Yet, over her last 3½ weeks in the archer's domain, Venus has been somewhat squelched in her attempt to inspire speedy movement. The first half of her transit through Sagittarius was spent disposing of (or 'assisting, through planetary rulership') Mercury as he retraced the steps of his retrograde back out of its shadow, essentially clearing up the latest hassles and relieving recent social tensions. The second half, meanwhile, brought dual squares from both Saturn and Uranus, a frustrating double-blockage which prevented Venus from squarely holding her focus on, first and foremost, forward motion.

Having made it past both obstacles, Venus now insistently refuses to look backwards. The future—the future!—is clearly centered in her crosshairs. In conjunction with Pluto, she is through being patient or polite. She has ideals to defend, flights of fervor to chase, lost time to make up for… and, at this point, will take any complicated consequences to her bold choices over one more minute of sitting on her hands.

At a Venus-Pluto conjunction, our desires hit a sharper psychological note. We go from 'interested' to 'very interested'. What we want we suddenly must have. Potentials evolve into passions, while affections may even turn to obsessions. Bottom line: The appeal becomes so deep and compelling, we discover we're willing to go further and do more in order to fully realize it. (Risks, meanwhile, be damned.)

In the last degree of Sagittarius, this conjunction takes on a greater weight, as both Venus and Pluto prepare to move into Capricorn. For Venus, this sign-shift occurs tomorrow (Wed Nov 12). For Pluto, it's not for another couple weeks (Wed Nov 26)… but, as I've already written (and will again and again), it's a much more monumental, generation-defining transition. Pluto has been on the cusp all year, having already spent part of '08 (Jan 25-Jun 13) in Capricorn. And once it reenters in two weeks, Pluto will stay in Capricorn through 2024. This week's Venus-Pluto conjunction, then, is like a bombastic farewell to the past many years in history—and an enthusiastic, no-holds-barred, take-the-bad-with-the-good-as-long-as-we're-taking-something-somewhere embrace of the future.

Pluto in Sagittarius (its sign placement since 1995) has raised the dark shadow of fundamentalist belief systems, showing us what happens when one totalizing worldview ('we've got the answer! and it's the only one! and you're either with us or against us!') bumps up against another. The results were a polarizing battle of ideologies, where each side not only insisted it owned the monopoly on righteousness but demonized any other ideology that conflicted—namely, a lot of proselytizing crusaders on every angle, with very little compassionate listening or compromising concession. Sagittarius, after all, often replaces alternative considerations with one single-minded conviction.

The symbol of Pluto's entry into Capricorn, alas, indicates a pivot away from philosophizing… with the acknowledgment that our social structures (governments, economic institutions, centralized authorities) must now subject themselves to the painful destructions and reconstructions spurred by a Pluto transit. We're coming to realize, increasingly, that talk is cheap—and when talk isn't carried through into action, through killing off institutionalized relics from the past incompatible with the changing worldview and/or organizing new projects that actually build common ideals into the structures that regulate our lives, it's just a lot of hot air.

In other words, the ideological battles have largely been waged already on the level of pure zeal. Now, they pragmatically confront the real-world realm of The Establishment, ready to de-establish and/or re-establish accordingly.

With Venus arriving in Capricorn (to stay through Dec 7), we find ourselves attracted to this more 'results-oriented' manner of approaching our challenges. Venus in Capricorn is not exactly touchy-feely in her stance toward relationship. She's not averse to compromises—as long as she's clear on what tangible benefits she'll receive as a result.

During Venus's transit through Capricorn, we should probably set aside our most romantic notions about how things should work or how people ought to behave. We'd be foolish to assume that crossing our fingers, lighting magic candles and entertaining only positive thoughts will be enough to save our souls. On the contrary. Faith is merely one factor in ensuring success, and must be counterbalanced with strategic forethought, a conservative eye to what we promise others, and a somewhat calculating attitude that never neglects to remind us what our main goal is. To that degree, these few weeks are something of a testing-ground for the challenging years ahead, when putting our money where our mouth is—literally—will be the only surefire way to accomplish anything.

Mars, meanwhile, isn't ready to cede the pulpit, the bullhorn and the exclusive patent on Truth-with-a-capital-T… for just as Venus heads out, Mars heads into Sagittarius on Sunday (Nov 16) for a visit that lasts until the end of December. Ending 2008 with this transit of Mars through Sagittarius puts emphasis on this notion of airing last-minute testimony of one's principles, before the major dismantling-and-rebuilding work starts in earnest in '09.

Though we may be well aware of the need to finally get down to the business of actual 'doing' during these weeks ahead, Mars in Sagittarius could prompt us to restate our positions and remake our points (yes, again!), so there's no room left for wondering. Mars in Sagittarius does sometimes go overboard in pressing its precious issues. He's ready to dig into The Next Big Endeavor (or so his words would have us believe) and eager to rally the troops' spirits all right. You betcha!

Yet don't be surprised if the last weeks of the year are bursting with restless impatience for the next developments in history to happen already, despite the impossibility of proceeding in any other fashion than one foot after the next, a step at a time. Mars, after all, will face the same dual Saturn-Uranus squares (Dec 10-15) and the subsequent Pluto conjunction (Dec 28) that Venus did.

Come January 1, 2009, however, the past really will be behind us in a profound new way.