World Powers Essay #1 – The United States – The Healing Starts at Home

So my little follow-up post to yesterday’s Mars in Virgo-Pluto Direct in Capricorn post has become more extensive than I expected.

As I looked into the dynamics of each nation involved in recent world events, I realized that it may be best to simply write about each nation.

That said, since I’m an American,  I guess I’ll start with the U.S. This is easier in some ways because I live here, but it’s also more difficult because the United States of America has had a rough couple of weeks, and frankly, a rough couple of years. Most recently, another mass school shooting in Oregon, an “accidental” military bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, Russia stepping into partnership with Syria and into a prominent leadership role in bringing order to the Middle East region, accusations and questions about possible human rights violations by its Middle East allies and in its own military and intelligence activities in the region, and with religion, immigration, racism, sexism, and abortion continuing to be hot-button issues in its internal affairs, the U.S. has a lot on its plate…and most of it isn’t very appetizing.

Yet what I’d like to do in this post is explain why this is happening and what is happening to the U.S. as a whole right now. I’ll say it now – this isn’t going to be pretty, yet I don’t believe in sugar-coating what I see in any chart I study. Though some of you may take offense and/or accuse me of looking at my country with a n objectively critical eye, I’m only stating what I see for the U.S. now and ahead through the eyes of astrology and numerology. I hope it helps us understand what is happening, and that it helps us get through all that is happening now and next with an optimistic and hopeful outlook for our future.

This essay will be more technical than most of my posts, so I hope I don’t lose anyone with the details. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment on this post or to email directly with any technical questions or comments you may have. For astrologers, I’ve used the Sibly chart for the U.S. in this analysis.

That said, let’s begin.

Mercury in Cancer Trine Neptune Retrograde in Pisces and Cancer 5 Sun Square Mars in Libra – Choose Wisely

There is a confusing and possibly deceptive quality to the communications that are occurring now, thanks to a trine between Mercury in Cancer and Neptune Retrograde in Pisces, exact at 10:36p PDT this evening of 18th July 2014.  The degree to which we may be choosing to delude ourselves may be made more clear by a square of the Cancer 5 Sun and Mars in Libra, exact less than an hour later at 11:42p PDT.

Neptune has rather escapist tendencies as the ruler of Pisces, and in its own sign, it’s more apt to act upon these tendencies.  With the planet in retrograde motion, this indicates that each of us may be more inclined to allow ourselves to be deceived rather than being deceived outright or unknowingly by others.  It may seem strange, but through this transit, there’s a likelihood of our being tricked into taking responsibility for the delusions of others.

Mercury in Cancer reveals that our minds are being swayed by our emotions.  There is much to say about how we feel, yet it is wise to keep in mind that in the sign of Cancer, we are in protective mommy mode when it comes to what we are emotionally invested in.  Our minds aren’t really objective as we are focused on how to protect and defend the people and projects we care about most.

Venus Enters Cancer – July 2014 – Protect At All Costs

Venus entered the sign of Cancer at 7:06a PDT today, 18th July 2014.  In some ways, it couldn’t have come at a better time. In other ways, it couldn’t have come at a worse one.

It’s often overlooked that Venus is the ruler of Libra – an air sign.  Think of it like a quintessential multi-tasker in the sense that it needs to be very objective in order to get things done.  It isn’t that it doesn’t care.  It’s that it needs to be somewhat emotionally detached to be able to do it and move on to next point of business to be of support to its partner(s).

In the sign of Cancer, Venus becomes a very emotionally supportive partner.  Cancer is the maternal energy of the Zodiac, so Venus’ expression is softened and more sensitive here.  Under its influence, there is an increased desire to nurture and protect the people and things that are emotionally important to you.

This Venus in Cancer energy dynamic could be equated to a mother defending and protecting her children.  A mother’s logic is to defend and protect her family at all costs.  Therefore, anyone or anything that you consider to be home and/or family will be something you may find yourself going to great lengths to safeguard.

Considering the energetic climate right now, there is a great deal to protect and defend from.  This is where the presence of Venus in Cancer could be both good and bad.  If objectivity could rule the day, this could be good.  But if the emotions rule the day (which is more likely), this could be a rough few weeks.

Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer – Learning to Love Yourself

Jupiter is the planet of growth, expansion, and positive energy.  It is often associated with good fortune and joy.

Cancer is the sign of the mother – nurturing, caring, protecting energy.  It is associated with home and family, and the sense of emotional security and protection that home ideally provides.

Together, Jupiter in Cancer provides an opportunity for you to grow and expand your capacity to nurture, care for, and protect what you love and care about.  It increases your capacity to love who and what you love.

However, when Jupiter in Cancer goes into retrograde motion, it shifts the focus of that energy inward.  Now, and for the next months, Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer calls upon you to grow and expand in your capacity to nurture, care for, and protect yourself.

How much do you really love yourself?  Under Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer (which began at 9:04p PST on November 6^th, 2013), now’s the time for you to find out.

This may be a confronting time for some of you, especially if you tend to put others first in your life.  Taking time to nurture and care for yourself isn’t easy and certainly won’t be comfortable.  Yet you are being asked to incorporate some time to see how you are being nurtured and protected and cared for in your life.  This is not only about how you provide nurturing and loving care for yourself.  In fact, a large part of this process will occur through your recognizing how your loved ones treat you.  Do they nurture, care for, and protect you?  Do they give you a sense of home and family?

One of the things that may come up during Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer is how people in your life have become ‘the family of your choosing’.  They may not be related to you by blood, but they may be as close if not closer to you in how you relate to them or with them.  There is a comfort and ease you feel with them – a trust and confidence that you have with them.  It is a powerful distinction to make with the people in your life – noticing which ones you would treat as family, and which ones treat you that way.

During Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer, you will likely become more aware of which people in your life treat you like family and which ones feel like family or feel like home to you.  This could be a time of great joy and positive feeling when you start to become more aware of the people in your life who reciprocate your love.  However, it can also be challenging as you may begin to notice how you may resist or push away others’ efforts to love and care for you.  If you find that you are hesitant or resistant to the nurturing and care of others, you may get to explore that resistance during this Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer period.  This is especially true if you say that you want to have deeper or closer emotional connections with people.  You may come to realize that it’s not the people around you who aren’t giving you love – it may actually be that you’re not allowing that love to come to you.  You may get to learn how to receive love during this time, and it may start by learning to love yourself.

Make the most of the opportunities to learn and grow your love during Jupiter Retrograde in Cancer, which will be in effect through March 6^th, 2014.

Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

Mercury in Leo Square Saturn in Scorpio – How Far is “Too Far”?

It’s been said that in order to know how far is “too far”, you’ve got to go as far as you can go.  With Mercury in Leo, you got to test that theory in exercising your voice of self-expression…that is, until Mercury in Leo met Saturn in Scorpio in square aspect on Sunday, August 11th, 2013 at 11:05a PDT.  Due to that square transit, there’s a good chance that sometime within the last three days, you found out exactly where too far is.

Scorpio is the sign of transformation while Saturn is the planet of structure, discipline, and responsibility.  As you evolve and change through your life experience, so must your personal boundaries in order to protect and defend your and your chosen path as you progress on your life journey.  Think of it like this: If you try to use the same suit of armor now that you had when you were 5 years old, it’s a good bet that suit no longer fits you.  You need to create and put on a new suit of armor with which to protect yourself as you strive forward to achieve your goals. That is what Saturn in Scorpio is all about.

Recognize these new personal boundaries that you’re now discovering and defining as your new suit of armor.  These boundaries aren’t necessarily meant to keep you from experiencing hurt or pain ever again.  They are, however, meant to help you figure out who you are, who you want to have in your life, and how to stay on track in bringing your goals and intentions to fruition.  Achievement and accomplishment require focus and discipline and personal responsibility, and in order to maintain that focus and discipline, you need to know your inner truth, accept and honor your responsibility for living it, and stay in alignment with it by using it as your guide as you move forward.

In accepting responsibility for your inner truth and your chosen path, you may also need to communicate your newly-defined personal boundaries to others.  This requires you to boldly speak your truth.  This is why Mercury in Leo is so important right now – not only do you need to set new boundaries; you also get to communicate them to others.  The people in your life who can hear and accept your truth and respect your boundaries when you fully express them are definitely people you want to keep around, while those who can’t handle your truth and boundaries may be people you may want to ease out of your life.

That said, remember that others are also reassessing their personal boundaries during this time.  Yes, Mercury in Leo calls upon you to be bold and courageous in expressing your thoughts, ideas, and truths.  Yet when you find that others are communicating their truths and boundaries to you, you may want to consider how well you are listening and respecting their expressions of self.  You also get to notice how you are communicating your truths to others, what your truths may be, and your intentions in communicating them.  Most important, both you and they get to see just how far you can go in expressing yourselves fully before you drive each other crazy.

Leo is known for consciously or unconsciously drawing attention to itself or people and/or causes it champions.  It does this to receive acknowledgment, but it also tends to attract a good deal of drama into your life or the lives of those around you.  Under Saturn in Scorpio, this may have you drawing the line with others about certain matters in your life.  Yet under the influence of Mercury in Leo seeking attention or acknowledgment of your personal truths, you may also find you are being embraced by some while exiled by others as they set and enforce their own newly-clarified Saturn in Scorpio boundaries which may differ from yours.  Be aware that as much as you may think and say that you want all the drama out of your life and believe that it‘s coming from others, realize that you yourself could be the source of the drama in your life and the lives of those around you.  In this case, this Mercury-Saturn square may have had others setting boundaries with you which now has you re-assessing your own personal behaviors and boundaries.

This is the challenge of Mercury in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio – the awkward dance of setting and crossing boundaries to find the perfect blend of self-expression and self-respect in your own behavior while at the same time, honoring the self-expression and self-respect of others.

The last three days have been a time to find out how far you can go and how far others can go with you.  What have you learned about your limits…and theirs?

Thanks for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

Mercury in Leo Square Saturn in Scorpio – How Far is “Too Far”?

It’s been said that in order to know how far is “too far”, you’ve got to go as far as you can go.  With Mercury in Leo, you got to test that theory in exercising your voice of self-expression…that is, until Mercury in Leo met Saturn in Scorpio in square aspect on Sunday, August 11th, 2013 at 11:05a PDT.  Due to that square transit, there’s a good chance that sometime within the last three days, you found out exactly where too far is.

Scorpio is the sign of transformation while Saturn is the planet of structure, discipline, and responsibility.  As you evolve and change through your life experience, so must your personal boundaries in order to protect and defend your and your chosen path as you progress on your life journey.  Think of it like this: If you try to use the same suit of armor now that you had when you were 5 years old, it’s a good bet that suit no longer fits you.  You need to create and put on a new suit of armor with which to protect yourself as you strive forward to achieve your goals. That is what Saturn in Scorpio is all about.

Recognize these new personal boundaries that you’re now discovering and defining as your new suit of armor.  These boundaries aren’t necessarily meant to keep you from experiencing hurt or pain ever again.  They are, however, meant to help you figure out who you are, who you want to have in your life, and how to stay on track in bringing your goals and intentions to fruition.  Achievement and accomplishment require focus and discipline and personal responsibility, and in order to maintain that focus and discipline, you need to know your inner truth, accept and honor your responsibility for living it, and stay in alignment with it by using it as your guide as you move forward.

In accepting responsibility for your inner truth and your chosen path, you may also need to communicate your newly-defined personal boundaries to others.  This requires you to boldly speak your truth.  This is why Mercury in Leo is so important right now – not only do you need to set new boundaries; you also get to communicate them to others.  The people in your life who can hear and accept your truth and respect your boundaries when you fully express them are definitely people you want to keep around, while those who can’t handle your truth and boundaries may be people you may want to ease out of your life.

That said, remember that others are also reassessing their personal boundaries during this time.  Yes, Mercury in Leo calls upon you to be bold and courageous in expressing your thoughts, ideas, and truths.  Yet when you find that others are communicating their truths and boundaries to you, you may want to consider how well you are listening and respecting their expressions of self.  You also get to notice how you are communicating your truths to others, what your truths may be, and your intentions in communicating them.  Most important, both you and they get to see just how far you can go in expressing yourselves fully before you drive each other crazy.

Leo is known for consciously or unconsciously drawing attention to itself or people and/or causes it champions.  It does this to receive acknowledgment, but it also tends to attract a good deal of drama into your life or the lives of those around you.  Under Saturn in Scorpio, this may have you drawing the line with others about certain matters in your life.  Yet under the influence of Mercury in Leo seeking attention or acknowledgment of your personal truths, you may also find you are being embraced by some while exiled by others as they set and enforce their own newly-clarified Saturn in Scorpio boundaries which may differ from yours.  Be aware that as much as you may think and say that you want all the drama out of your life and believe that it‘s coming from others, realize that you yourself could be the source of the drama in your life and the lives of those around you.  In this case, this Mercury-Saturn square may have had others setting boundaries with you which now has you re-assessing your own personal behaviors and boundaries.

This is the challenge of Mercury in Leo square Saturn in Scorpio – the awkward dance of setting and crossing boundaries to find the perfect blend of self-expression and self-respect in your own behavior while at the same time, honoring the self-expression and self-respect of others.

The last three days have been a time to find out how far you can go and how far others can go with you.  What have you learned about your limits…and theirs?

Thanks for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

New Moon in Cancer – Planting An Extraordinary Love

New Moons are always auspicious times for new beginnings.  However, this one holds some special promise.

In the sign of Cancer, the Moon is in its sign of rulership.  Cancer is known as the “Great Zodiac Mother” – the emotional energy that nurtures, cares for, and protects us all – and the Moon is her primary vehicle for maintaining her emotional connection to each and every one of us in a very personal way.

That said, when the Moon is New in Cancer (exact at 12:14a PDT on Monday, July 8^th, 2013), it is a time for initiating new emotional beginnings – planting the seeds for things that you really do care to have become manifest in your life.

During the Full Moon in Capricorn, you were able to realign your focus and get clear about what is really important to you based upon where you invested your caring, nurturing, and protective energies.  The Light of the Sun in Cancer helped you to get clear about the goals you are striving for and the dreams you want to fulfill by noticing what you were emotionally invested in and discovering where and how your emotions were invested.

Now, with the New Moon in Cancer conjunct the Cancer Sun , it is time to plant the seeds you intend to nurture to harvest.  It’s not just about planting for planting’s sake.  This time, it’s intentional – very intentional.

These aren’t just any seeds.  These are no ordinary new beginnings.  These are new beginnings that matter to you on an emotional level.  These are seeds born from your heart’s deepest intentions and your most heartfelt desires.

These are the ones, or at least need to be the ones, that you will nurture and care for and protect with everything you have in your heart until they are strong enough to stand for themselves.  Now is the time to take begin taking action to care for and protect what you want to see become the loving reality of your life experience.

To manifest this life of love you intend to have, you now get to love the life you have and want to develop into an experience of your life that you love even more.  This is a crucial element of this Cancer New Moon creation process – that you not only recognize what you want your life to become, but that you also acknowledge and appreciate where you are now on your life’s journey.  How you feel about yourself and your life now is the soil in which you are planting your seeds.  You’ll want to plant your seeds in something you believe will keep them safe and well-nourished, in something through which you can give them the care and protection they deserve.  Be conscious of your thoughts and beliefs about yourself and your life at this time as they’ll be what cultivates your seeds now through to their harvest.

Make the best of this New Moon in Cancer which will affect us all through early Tuesday, July 9^th.  This New Moon gives you an opportunity to nurture and protect an extraordinary expression of love – True Love of yourself and your life.

Thank you so much for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

Sun in Cancer Square Uranus in Aries – Running In Circles

Uranus is often about communities and groups and individuals making their unique contributions to the greater collective whole.  Yet with Uranus currently traveling in the sign of Aries, the energy of this planet shifts onto how you express your unique self and take action on your own behalf within the groups, teams, communities, associations, etc. – the social and societal circles you participate in.

During this square transit of Uranus in Aries with the Cancer Sun (exact at 11:22p PDT on Wednesday, July 3^{rd, 2013}),  there is the opportunity for you to notice how well you have been nurturing and protecting your individuality within your social circles.  This is a prime opportunity for you to pay attention to how well the groups you choose to affiliate yourself with nurture, support, care for, or protect your inner Truth and your best self-interests.

Sometimes, you may find yourself spending time among people who aren’t supportive of who you truly are or what you are truly committed to having or accomplishing in your life.  This may be because you feel like you owe it to them to maintain your association with them for some reason –  you may have been friends with them since grade school, or have been through some very celebratory or challenging times together, or the like.

You may have a great deal of affinity and/or gratitude for their presence in your life in and through those times, yet you may also notice that now they drain your energy, seem to have a knack for tearing you down just when you’re feeling good about the direction your life, or that they may hold you back in some other way through their behaviors or attitudes toward you when you take steps to move yourself forward in your life.

Often, this type of thing happens not so much because you’re succeeding, but because your success or your movement toward it awakens in them to the fact that they aren’t living their individual truth or doing anything to move themselves forward on their journey.  Misery loves company, and they may be pushing you to stay with them rather than to make your own way which may result in your “leaving them behind”.

On the flip side, you may find that you are among people who are very eager to assist you in your individual progress.  The challenge here is that you may feel obligated to bring these people up and/or along with you, even if they aren’t the people you need to continue your journey.  This Sun-Uranus square transit may be an opportunity for you to recognize that some of the people who want to help you and that you’re determined to carry with you may not be ready for the steps you are taking.  They simply may not be the right people to assist you in moving further forward or upward.  Again but differently, your own fear of letting go of your past supporters may be keeping you from being all that you truly and uniquely are.

Either way, the key during this Sun-Uranus square is to recognize that you are ultimately an individual.  This isn’t to say you need to rebel from your communities or associations altogether.  It is, however, to say that you may want to consider running from the affiliations that no longer or possibly never really have nurtured your unique individuality well.  That may be the truth the Sun’s Light reveals to you during this square.

This Sun in Cancer -Uranus in Aries square can be a challenge, but also an opportunity for you to get clear about who you are choosing to be in the world as an individual expression of Divine Light, and to look at if your social circles support and encourage who you are nurturing yourself to be or become.  If the people you’re spending time with aren’t in alignment with your living into your unique expression of Light, of if you feel that you have to protect yourself in some way from the people you consider friends or associates, you may want to take pause to consider what you may need to do in order to nurture and protect your journey.  You may find that you just need to seek out some new circles to run with.

Thanks for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

Jupiter in Cancer – Time to Ground Your Helicopter?

Jupiter entered the sign of Cancer at 6:40p on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.  With its reputation for growth and expansion, and when combined with Cancer’s watery and rather maternal energy, you can be sure that the mighty, jolly Jupiter is about to bring forth a “mother lode” of nurturing, caring, protective maternal energy (and yes, the pun was intended).

Yet in this case, there can be too much of a good thing.  Jupiter in Cancer can increase our capacity for nurturing and protecting our emotional interests and/or our awareness of what we give that nurturing and protective energy to.  However, for those of you who are already fairly protective and nurturing of what we are emotionally connected to, Jupiter in Cancer could bring an excess of that archetypal maternal energy.  The desire to be a “helicopter mom” over your emotional investments – regardless of your actual gender –   may be high or higher than usual over these next 12-13 months (until July 2014).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “helicopter mom” or “helicopter parent”, it refers to parents who are so protective of their children that they “hover” over them in every way they can.  This over-protection often leaves the children unable to function well as adults because they’ve had someone do everything for them or shield them from anything or anyone ”negative” – the children may end up unable to handle criticism or competition or any real world functional challenges because they have been so sheltered from the truths and realities of those dynamics that they’ve never experienced them until they are left alone.

Unable to cope in the “real world” without the protection or constant approval of their parents, the children of “helicopter parents” often end up living with their parents as adults or otherwise being highly dependent (if not co-dependent) on others for their identities or for creating an illusion of “success” in their lives.  It is only once the child develops a sense of self-responsibility and full ownership for their lives does their life begin to stabilize and earnest success begin to be established in their lives.

In some “helicopter” cases, the children actually want more independence and autonomy, and it is the parents who are so needy emotionally, they cannot allow their children to do their own thing or become their own persons because it is the parents themselves who are afraid of being abandoned or alone.  These more self-aware children often seek escape routes from their parents – lifestyles and/or life paths that allow them to sever ties with their parents (sometimes permanently) so they can establish and maintain their “freedom”.  This can be devastating for the hovering parent, and the parent may project their maternal need onto others in substitution – another highly co-dependent behavior.

Capricorn in is opposite the sign of Cancer in the Zodiac, and represents archetypal “daddy” energy – goal-oriented, ambitious, results-driven, completion-minded energy.  It is the energy needed to balance out the nurturing and caring “mommy”, and in that balance, it enables you to be able to care for yourselves yet to also get things accomplished in your lives.  But with Jupiter in Cancer, the super-sizing effect of Jupiter builds up the presence of this maternal energy making it so strong over the next year, it may be difficult to focus on what all of your nurturing and caring is really intended to do – to teach “your babies” how to care for and nurture themselves so they can stand strong in the outside world.

After looking at the abundance of energy in water signs right now, and looking at the other “outer” planets in water signs right now (Chiron in Pisces, Saturn in Scorpio, Neptune in Pisces) I’d say that this 2013-2014 Jupiter in Cancer experience will be much like it being time for what you have been committed to nurturing and caring for to leave your maternal and protective care.  In this case, when you “baby” is leaving the nest, can you let go and let him/her/it fly?

You may find that as these changes begin to occur, you become increasingly aware of your emotional investment(s) in what you have nurtured and cared for.  This is great, but there is a caveat – as what you’ve been committed to changes, you may find that you, too, must change – especially if that means that you’ve done all you can and it’s time for your “baby” to leave the nest.  As you turn to do so, you may notice that you have been committed to your “children” to the exclusion of everything else, and you may be left with nothing else to focus that nurturing energy upon.

That is where this 2013-2014 Jupiter in Cancer, at least from the onset, is fabulous!

About 12 hours after Jupiter enters Cancer, Mercury goes into retrograde motion in Cancer.  When this happens, the “mommy” mindset goes within – it shifts the focus of this energy within you onto yourself.  That means that for the first four weeks of this 2013-2014 Jupiter in Cancer, you are being blessed with an opportunity to focus on yourself and to recognize how you can better nurture, care for, and protect yourself emotionally.  Mercury Retrograde acts as a set of “training wheels” to support you from the beginning in making this a healthy and positive Jupiter in Cancer cycle.

This is your chance to take care of your inner child – for you to give yourself the maternal love that you may have been seeking outside of yourself or through your own children by providing it to them “for them”.  It may also be a chance for you to learn how to give yourself the mothering that you’ve grown so accustomed to giving to everyone else.  And once you learn how to do this, then you get to grow in your capacity to do this so that you can care for others in healthy, positive, and balanced ways that also nurture and care for you – interdependency.  “Mothering” is no longer a one-sided deal – it’s something that you get to share with everyone, including yourself!

Give yourself the gift of nurturing and mothering yourself during this 2013-2014 Jupiter in Cancer.  In grounding your “helicopter”, you allow your loved ones and yourself to take flight and be free to be all you are intended to be in this lifetime.

Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace

Venus Enters Cancer – June 2013 – Protecting Your Interests

At 7:13p PDT this evening, Sunday, June 2^nd, 2013, Venus entered Cancer, moving the focus in our partnerships and one-on-one relationships of all kinds from a focus on communication to focus on nurturing and protecting.

If the lines of communication were indeed open and active in your partnerships during Venus in Gemini, then there may be wonderful clarity within your relationships.  Each person involved will feel that they know where they stand, or at least have a sense of clarity within themselves that they know where the partnership stands.  You may have even created a new phase of your relationship.  However, if the lines of communication were not open or well-used before now, this Venus in Cancer phase could be a very interesting few weeks.

Cancer is what I like to call “the mommy sign” – it is a strong maternal energy.  Even in men with a prominent Cancer sign influence in their charts, there is a caring, nurturing, and especially protective quality that is expressed.  When things are going well, Cancer has no problem playing the soft, caring parent.  But when things are challenging or threatening, Cancer will withdraw into its shell and bring anyone it cares about into its shell with it.  It is determined to protect what it loves and cares about, and will do so fervently.  Like its emblem “the crab”, Cancer will pinch its threats with its large pincher claws if necessary, and is happy to draw blood if that’s what it takes to protect its relational interests.

Yet if those interests were not made clear while Venus traveled through Gemini, it may be difficult for you during Venus in Cancer to know exactly what it is that you’re protecting or why you are even protecting it.  After all, when you aren’t clear about where your partnership stands, it’s tough to know what you’re supposed to be taking care of within it.

Fortunately, the Sun, Mars and Jupiter are still in Gemini so they may be able to help you do some retroactive clarification work on behalf of your relationships and partnerships.  But whether your communication work was done or not, The Universe continues shifting our focus to Venus in Cancer, and you now get to acknowledge your various relationships and their states of clarity by how much you do or don’t nurture them.

Cancer, in the natural order of the Zodiac, is the first water element sign.  Therefore, it is responsible for laying the emotional foundation for your relationships of all kinds.  For those of you who are clear about where you stand, you are in a wonderful position to advance your relationship(s) in ways that develop emotional connection and intimacy.

This is also why Cancer is associated with the mother, family in its entirety, and home as these are usually a child’s first emotional connections.  It is why when looking at your relationship patterns, you are often guided to look at your family and home dynamics and environments as a starting point.  You look here because this is where your emotional roots were established.  They are also often the reason why your emotional beliefs and behaviors continue.

Keeping that in mind, Venus in Cancer is an opportunity for you to do a few things:

• Look at how your relationships with your mother, your family, and your home environment affect you in relationships.  What beliefs or thought patterns do you see are directly correlated with your upbringing and./or with your family and home dynamics now?
• Look at how your non-family relationships or partnerships of all kinds affect your relationships with your family, your home, and/or specifically, your mother.  Do you keep clear boundaries drawn, or do you bring everyone you connect with at all “into the family”?
• Look at who you are attracted to and how or why you are attracted to them.  Do you find yourself consistently attracted to women who remind you of your mother or an important maternal or feminine role model in your life, or do you purposely seek women who are absolutely nothing like her?
• Look at how you may be like your mother or female role model in your relationships, or how you may consider her in assessing your partners.  Do you act like her and say or do things she would do?  Do you consider what her opinion would probably be based on your experiences with her, and do you look at your own partners through what you believe to be “your mother’s filter”?

These are important things to consider for no other reason than to help you recognize how your upbringing may have influenced who you choose to care for, love, and protect and how or why you protect them.  Venus in Cancer encourages you to give attention to how your emotional past may be making a huge impact on your partnerships of all kinds now – both personal and in business!

If you find that you have a challenging relationship pattern or patterns, start seeking ways you may be able to find assistance in releasing those old beliefs and patterns that may no longer serve you well.  Allow yourself to be vulnerable in working with others to find way to release relationship beliefs and behaviors that no longer serve you.

You may also want to refer to your own astrology chart.  By having a complete chart reading done, you may re-discover your own unique way of choosing partners and how you care for them, love them, and protect them – ways that are not the result of your family and home environment, but ways that are unique and specific to you alone.

And if your relationships are going smoothly and communication is open and flowing between the two of you now, this 2013 Venus in Cancer phase may prove rewarding in ways you could only dream of as you begin to tend to what you have created through clarity of your thoughts and words.  There may be a couple of rough transits during this next few weeks (square to Uranus and opposition to Pluto), but they will only serve to make your connections stronger.

Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers.  Until next post…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,

Grace