This month’s Full Moon (Dec 21) is also a Lunar Eclipse, bringing emotional intensity even though it’s in emotionally light Gemini.  Gemini’s desire to skate across the surface of emotions may conflict with the Moon’s need to look at emotional shadows during an eclipse.  Several other planetary influences complicate the matter:  Mercury in Sagittarius, along with Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces, leading to a sensation of busyness and many factors to consider.  But if you stay in your head, you may miss the wonder, beauty and depth of this eclipse, so look for the calm place in the center of its storm.

Details About This Eclipse

Date: December 21, 2010
Time of eclipse: 0:13 AM PST
Type: total (strong in intensity)
Visible in: North America, South America.  Its beginning will be visible in Europe and its end in Japan and northern Asia.
At: 29 degrees Gemini
Shadow Agents: Mercury, Uranus and Jupiter

Does It Affect You Personally?

If your birthday is on any of the following dates, you most likely experienced this eclipse:
December 16-26
March 15-25
June 15-25
September 17-27

Remember, not every eclipse touches everyone, but when it does, it’s usually noticeable.  A lunar eclipse is likely to bring up strong emotions and to be experienced as a subjective event (unlike a solar eclipse, which is likely to be marked by an external, real-world event).  The following script is just one possible way it could go.

You hear a knock at the door.  You answer it.  The Sun and Moon are there, with several more deities standing behind them.  The Sun looks a little weak and the Moon looks strong and shiny.  The Sun staggers into your living room and collapses onto the sofa.
Sun:  This is really not my time of year.  It’s just too much effort to light things up.  I can’t keep going all day like I can in the summer.  I get so tired.
Moon:  It’s the longest night of the year.  Soon you’ll get your juju back.
The Sun is already dozing.  Jupiter and Uranus meander into the living room and take the love seat.  The Moon is casting a lovely silvery glow over everything in your living room.  On an impulse, you turn out the lights so you can get the whole effect.
Moon:  I’m full and at the height of my powers.
Mercury pops his head in the door and like a streak is suddenly seated in another stuffed chair.
Mercury:  But you’re going to have an eclipse tonight.
Moon:  Yeah, I know.  I’ll be lighting up the night—until I’m not.
Jupiter:  But there’s always hope, even in the darkest night.
Uranus:  And insights can be gotten—
Mercury:  —sometimes even better when we stop thinking.
Moon:  Merc, I can’t believe I’m hearing you advocate for stopping thinking.
Mercury:  True, it’s not my usual strategy, but I’m always for new ideas, and when you think too much, sometimes the thing to do is stop.  And you’re in Gemini right now—
Moon:  Indeed I am—
Mercury: —so you could use to think less and feel more.
Moon:  I do tend to overanalyze feelings when I’m in Gemini.  Perhaps you, currently in Sagittarius, could remind me of the big picture.
Mercury:  Happy to.  And our old friend Jupiter is always good for that.
Jupiter starts to respond, but the Moon’s glow suddenly dims.
Mercury:  Uh oh, it’s beginning!
The Moon’s light lessens until she is completely dark, so dark in fact that it’s as if there’s a black hole in your living room and the Sun’s glow, which he’s gently emitting while dozing on the sofa, is being sucked into it.  A hush is cast over the room.  You move to turn on the electric lighting, but Uranus stops you.
Uranus:  Why not just dwell in the mystery?  Humans used to experience the full darkness of the longest night.  Modern people now understand that it’s a passing thing and soon over, and you are not afraid.  But you can still experience the wonder.
The hush descends again.  You sit in darkness and silence in the presence of these deities, noticing the magic and that there is nothing in particular that needs to be said.  This brings you a deep sense of peace.  After a time, the Moon begins to glow again, very faintly at first, then stronger and stronger until her full shine is restored.  You are glad you didn’t adjust the lighting because this was worth seeing.  You feel that you have been present for something ancient and true.
Jupiter:  So it seems that the key to this eclipse is “Don’t think too much, but let yourself feel it all and don’t worry about whether the feelings make sense.”
Moon:  Yes, the feelings will sort themselves out, given the chance.
Uranus:  And who knows what startling new insights might come of it?
They all get up to go.  Mercury pokes the Sun, who was quietly snoring.
Mercury:  Wake up, Sun, your longest night is almost over and we’ve figured out how to handle it.
Sun:  Cool.  I’m going home to bed now.  Days start getting longer tomorrow and I want to be alert.
They leave and you feel just a tiny bit of sadness as the cool glow leaves your living room.

Read about other eclipses coming up: 2011 Eclipses.

I get the eeriest feeling sometimes, when I’m doing readings.  Most times, actually.  I’m sitting there talking with someone I just met, telling them all about their life in intimate detail.  I’m finding things in their chart that I don’t know about them as a person.  I have to trust my knowledge of astrology in order to be able to say what I say at all, when the person I’m looking at doesn’t seem at all to match the interpretation that’s coming out of my mouth.  And I experience cognitive dissonance between my personal experience of the client and my astrological assessment of their chart.

To be a practicing astrologer is kind of like speaking a foreign language, a language that is the tongue of one person only.  It’s as if I am holding the map of this person’s inner country and I am describing the territory of their personal country, even though I am not in that country, never have been and never will be.  I am pronouncing the words, sounding out the phrases that are found on the signposts in this person’s inner country.  The listener can recognize himself in what I’m saying and is instantly transported into himself in what is sometimes a very deep way.  People report to me that they feel incredibly seen and heard during a reading.  I understand, because I’ve had that experience myself with astrology.  But I cannot help but feel an odd disconnect as the astrologer in me and the everyday person in me part ways.

I think of myself as a good judge of character (doesn’t everybody?) but my sense of people is hugely enhanced by astrology.  Without it, I’m a little at sea.  I would never think of setting up two friends on a blind date because the everyday side of me is a terrible matchmaker.  Yet the astrologer in me can sit with two strangers and talk about intimate, private details of how they connect with each other in their marriage.  I can turn to one partner and say, “You have thus-and-so conflict with your partner, don’t you?”  “Yes,” they confess, “that’s how it is for me.”  Then I turn to the other partner and say, “Does it make you crazy when they do so-and-so?”  “Of course!” they reply, “Wouldn’t that make you crazy too?”  But I’m no matchmaker.  Sometimes all this bends my own mind.

Some people are not living out their potential very fully.  They are like folks who have been expatriate their whole lives and have never even seen their own inner landscape.  They are very hard to read for, because they insist, “No—that’s not me!” when I start reading them their own map.  Some become pensive or sad during the reading, because I tend to read with a positive slant, and they begin to recognize their own path in my words and realize that they have somehow gotten off track.  Some resist the information but they often come to me later and tell me that I was actually right on the money.  This just adds to the cognitive dissonance.

People are funny.  It’s important to be gentle when you are speaking someone’s unknown, secret language to them, even if you don’t really know what you are saying, because you’ve never actually experienced it.  Or perhaps especially for that reason.

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Tale of Eros and Psyche

Venus is finally going direct today.  In celebration, one final post about Eros and Psyche, because we’ve arrived at the end of the story.

The tale of Eros and Psyche might also be called, “How The Soul Got Her Wings” because the ultimate end to this story is not only the restoration of love to the psyche, but also the immortality of the soul.

Upon being restored to Eros, Psyche is fed on ambrosia by his father, Jupiter, lord of all the gods.  This makes her a goddess and she is welcomed to the table at Mount Olympus with the other deities.  This is an unlooked-for benefit of seeking love.  Psyche’s journey, which was only ever intended to bring her back into communion with love, has done so much more.  She has deepened as a soul and finally is rendered immortal.

The message here is clear:  to find true love, you must not seek it outside yourself, but only love truly, and not only love, but immortality is your reward.  This is a true, “happy-ever-after” because it is more than just a fantasy.  This happy-ever-after was earned and is therefore sustainable.  The beauty of a goddess is eternal, but the beauty of a mortal fades, unless she does her soul-work.  Then she takes her place among the stars.

There’s one thing I didn’t tell you as the story was going along.  All that glorious lovemaking couldn’t fail to have an effect—when Eros flew away, he left Psyche pregnant.  In anger, he told her that her child would be mortal, not divine.  Psyche pursued him and did all her tasks while carrying that child, never knowing if she would see him again.  When Psyche drinks the ambrosia, her child is also rendered immortal.  That child is named Pleasure.  And how perfect is that?

Does This Apply To You?

Are you ready to love without bargaining for what you will receive for the gift of your love?  Are you ready to go into your soul’s darkness for love?  Are you ready to sort yourself out?  Are you ready to do the tasks that will restore love to you?  If you are, then even Aphrodite cannot stand in the way of your eternal love.

This thread is dedicated to my husband, who does the work of love as well as inspiring it.

Jolly Jupiter has spent the last few months (since July 24) traveling backwards.  Today he turns his face forward and re-covers the same ground.  Why should you care?  If he’s passing through a zone where you have a planet in your natal chart, he’s been bringing you growth and confidence this year.  And he’s not done yet.

This Is A Pivotal Day
If you are one of the millions of people having a Jupiter transit this year, today may be pivotal for you.  Around July 24, you came to realize you were facing a growth period and since then, you’ve been re-evaluating some the area of your life that’s expanding.  You’ve been examining it and mulling it over.  Perhaps you’ve been researching it.  Basically, you’ve been asking yourself, “What is this part of me that wants to explore and get bigger right now?  How have I lived this part of me in the past and what is it turning into for the future?”

Today (and I mean this loosely—it may happen as soon as 2 days before or as late as 2 days after today) is pivotal.  Today may be the day you realize your internal quest for understanding is over.  You’ve come to clarity.  You’ve recognized where the growth needs to happen and you’re ready to do something with what you’ve learned.  You can now gear up to act on that recognition, sometime in the next few months (between now and February of 2011).

“What is a Jupiter transit like . . .”
Astrologers call Jupiter a “benefic” planet because he tends to bring good things.  He’s kind of like Santa Claus.  When you’re having a Jupiter transit, you tend to feel a sense of adventure, an expansiveness.  This expansiveness and willingness to have fun with what life presents you increases your self-confidence and you tend to approach life with hope and optimism.  Because of that, people feel good around you and they tend to offer you opportunities.  You are more apt to get lucky during a Jupiter transit.  It’s almost like being a “lucky Sagittarian” for a specific time period.  The luck is a side-effect of your openness to growth and expansion right now and your ability to perceive events in your life as opportunities.

I’m not saying nothing bad will happen to you during a Jupiter transit—but I am saying that anything bad that happens is likely to go much better than it would have without Jupiter’s benefic presence.  This is because during a Jupiter transit you are more able to put even bad events to good use, to squeeze those lemons into lemonade by adding your own sugar.

“. . . and how do I know when I’m having one?”
You can find out whether you’re having a Jupiter transit by peeking at your chart.  This year Jupiter is covering the space between 23 degrees of Pisces and 3 degrees of Aries.  This will affect you if you have any planet in the space between 23 and 29 degrees of any of the four Mutable signs (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius).  It will also affect you if you have any planet in the space between 0 and 3 degrees of Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn).

If you don’t have your chart, or don’t know how to read your chart, you might want to order your own personal Astrology Chart Decoder.  This is a special tool I’ve invented that puts your chart’s details in English, instead of astrology symbols.  Your Decoder tells you where every planet in your chart is located:  the sign it’s in, the house it’s in and the exact degree it occupies.  When you’ve got your Decoder in front of you, check to see if you have anything at all in 23-29 degrees of Pisces, Gemini, Virgo or Sagittarius or in 0-3 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn.  If you do, you are definitely having a Jupiter transit this year.  And knowing that gives you the chance to identify the opportunities when they appear, and to grab them.  You might well ask . . .

What area of my life is being affected?
Good question.  It will have to do with the planet that you find is in that zone I told you about, between 23 degrees of Mutable and 3 degrees of Cardinal signs.  If it’s Mercury, you could be having a period of intellectual expansion, which is great for learning and expressing yourself in words.  If it’s Venus or Juno, you could be having relationship luck, attracting fun partners who take you on adventures or experiencing adventure in the relationship you already have.  If it’s Saturn, you could be facing a career expansion, a time when you exude confidence and grow your business.

“How long does it last?”
A Jupiter transit will typically last for 8-10 months.  Today is just one part of it, a pivotal day in the flow of a months-long period of growth, expansion and opportunity.  In an astrology reading you can find out all this good stuff:
•    what area of your life has “gotten lucky”
•    exactly how long it lasts
•    when it started
•    when it ends
•    what various phases of it feel like
•    how to take advantage of it
The timing of your transit will be personal to you.  That’s why it takes an astrologer to look it up—it’s not something I can just tell you in a blogpost.

“What do I do now?”
Grab the opportunities as they fly by.  You’re on life’s carousel and Jupiter is not going to just give you the goodies.  You have to reach for and grab the brass ring.  It’s up to you to decide which of all of Jupiter’s offerings are best for you right now.  You have to use discernment and you have to take action.  You have to respond.

It’s OK to say no to some of the opportunities.  Jupiter will simply send you more.  Focusing on what you really want can have the effect of shaping what Jupiter sends you.  It’s a great time for a deliberate manifestation practice.

When it’s over, it’s over
After this transit ends, your lucky period will be over.  It’s quite possible you’ll have another lucky period in a different area of your life in the next few years (it’s likely in fact), but this one will have passed.  Take advantage of it while it’s happening!

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Tale of Eros and Psyche

Psyche receives a lot of help in the completion of her four tasks, often at the very moment when she has given up.  Where does that help come from?  It appears as if by magic from resources that are close at hand, but the power behind that help is Eros himself.  He stirs the ants up to help Psyche sort the seeds and he breathes wind into the reeds that tell Psyche the secret of how to gather the golden fleece.  The eagle that fills the crystal goblet is sent by Zeus (Jupiter), who is Eros’ father and is helping him.  And Eros himself shows up to gather up the stygian sleep and cram it back into the box so that Psyche may return with it to Aphrodite’s temple.  Without love to inspire her every move, how could Psyche ever reawaken love?  And so he is her helper, but he cannot do these things for her.

Eros has his own story, which is the negative space around Psyche’s story.  His is the story of how erotic love connects with the soul and matures into intimate love.

Eros represents erotic love.  He is portrayed in Greco-Roman mythology as a mother’s son, a male principle that arose from the feminine.  But even Love had to grow up and leave his mother.  Eros’ journey begins when he first catches sight of Psyche (having been sent to kill her by Aphrodite).  He pricks himself with one of his own arrows and falls in love with her.  This means he must change from devoting himself to beauty to devoting himself to soul.

Instead of killing Psyche, Eros has her carried away to a hidden castle where he lives with her.  But he is a god—love is an eternal principle, a divine thing, and it cannot live forever with that which is mortal.  The marriage between Eros and Psyche is inherently unsustainable as long as Psyche is not a goddess.  Eros has married beneath himself, captivated by Psyche despite knowing that she would age and one day die.  You might say he was hanging around a girl from the wrong side of town.

A story is no story without setbacks.  What did Eros do when Psyche lifted the lamp and viewed him in the light?  He flew away to his mother, Beauty.  Eros’ part of the story is about how erotic love must learn to stop revolving around the beauty (Aphrodite) that gave birth to him and start instead apprehending the soul inside what he loves.

The tale of Eros and Psyche is a tale of converting passionate love into intimate, enduring love.  Passionate love is intense and consuming—if you were to try to live that way on an everyday basis, it would burn your life away.  Enduring love is less intense, but it is what passionate love turns into when it learns to bear the light of day.

At the beginning of the story, the Soul (Psyche) is in love with Love itself, and by the end she has taken a hard look at Love and deepened her soul.  Love is already divine; the soul has to earn her divinity.  At the beginning, erotic love (Eros) is in love with the beauty that aroused it (his allegiance to Aphrodite) and has to sneak around to explore his connection with the soul (Psyche) and even leave her to return to beauty.  Ultimately, the soul wins him over and Eros gets to have, not just sexuality with beauty, but sexuality with soul.  Not just erotic love, but intimate love.

Put another way, the psyche falls in love with love, but love itself is in thrall to the beauty of the beloved and needs to learn to love the beloved’s psyche.  Love is the offspring of beauty and is devoted to beauty, but upon encountering the soul, love is awakened and made conscious.

The message here for the Soul is:  Do your own soul-work. A mature lover will see your depth and not run to Beauty to escape encountering the Soul.

The message here for Love is:  Beauty is enthralling, but connection to the Soul is what’s needed to create the enduring connection that will allow Love’s expression over a lifetime.

There’s one final post in this thread, Psyche Is Made Immortal . . .

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Tale of Eros and Psyche

How heartbreaking it is when a girl first discovers that other girls will sometimes pit themselves against her and compete over boys.  She discovers this in childhood or teen years, so that by womanhood she knows all too well the ways that other women cannot be trusted.  A woman who really knows herself and believes in her own lovability does not have to compete or to make preemptive strikes against other women who might compete with her.  And a woman who understands sisterhood and the primal bond between women is safe for other women to relate with and trust.

In the myth, Psyche has aroused the anger of a goddess, Aphrodite, who insists on attempting to kill her, even though Psyche has no pretensions and wishes men weren’t worshipping her so inappropriately.  Psyche’s business is that of the soul and she would rather leave the business of beauty to Aphrodite, which is where it belongs.

Psyche also has to deal with the jealousy of her two sisters, who poison her against her husband, claiming that he is a frightful monster instead of the finest lover she could ever imagine.  Psyche never asked for all this feminine attack, nor for the beauty that aroused it.  She would rather have been of middling beauty and marriageable.

Psyche’s response to both these feminine attacks is a truly soulful one—she loves and trusts her sisters and she takes on the tasks of Aphrodite.  Because of this response, she is cast on a soul-journey at the end of which is her husband Eros, erotic love regained.

What Does It Mean?
The sisters represent binocular vision.  Because there are two of them, depth can be seen.  While Psyche lives with her husband in the dark, she cannot see him truly.  Her sisters press her to shine the lamp on him and to consider that he may be a monster.  Until she is willing to consider that he has ugly depths as well as divine ones, she cannot truly look at him and thus she remains innocent and in the dark.  Her sisters counsel her to have a sharp knife handy, so that she can cut off the monster’s head.  So she comes to her husband with both lamp and knife, prepared for the worst by her binocular vision, which includes the capacity to see evil in addition to good.  This is no error on her part, it is only what the soul can do, and it’s all part of the greater plan.

Psyche’s sisters serve an important purpose—the purpose of the shadow.  They force Psyche to wholeness and conscious awareness by making her look at her lover’s dark and ugly side.  When she sees who he really is, and that his wings are not the wings of a gargoyle or a dragon, but the wings of the very god of love himself, she is shocked at what she has done.  In her confusion, she pricks herself with one of Eros’ arrows and falls in love with him again, in full consciousness of who and what she loves.  “It is said that Psyche was the first mortal who ever looked at a god in his true splendor and lived to tell the tale” (from She, by Robert Johnson).

Additionally, in her confusion, Psyche drops hot oil from the lamp on his shoulder, which causes him to awaken and catch her in the act of seeing him.  He knows that he cannot stay, because his allegiance is still to his mother, Beauty (Aphrodite).  He has also not loved in the light of day and so does not know the soul (Psyche) of the woman he lives with.  And so he flies away, as he must, because he is also not mature.  Not yet.

Does This Apply To You?
If you are a woman, do you embrace sisterhood?  Are you aware of the unspoken code among women, the “non-competition clause” that says you should never attempt to seduce another woman’s man and disrupt her household?  Have you ever aroused the wrath of other women by your behavior?

Unfortunately, this is something often learned the hard way, by competing or being competed with.  But for women, sisterhood lives right next door to self-esteem:  love other women and you love yourself.  Every woman deserves to be worshipped—no one woman can claim another’s altar.  And beauty alone cannot hold a relationship together—it needs soul-work.  That’s what Psyche learns.

Read about Eros’ Hidden Task here . . .

Neptune and Chiron have met on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  Neptune is a lovely lady in sea-green, aqua and deep blue colors, with a long, flowing skirt.  Chiron is a centaur, rustic-looking and worn, but kind.

Chiron:  Who are we healing today, Neptune?
Neptune:  All of them.
Chiron:  What?
Neptune:  You heard me:  all of them.  All human beings.
Chiron:  How are we going to do that?
Neptune:  By getting one person to stand in as Everyman.  Or Everywoman.  Doesn’t matter.
Chiron:  So one human being gets healed and the whole human race benefits?  Sounds like a Jesus complex.
Neptune:  He was one of my own.  He was very good at standing for everyone.
Chiron:  How are we going to find someone that. . . cosmic?
Neptune:  All I have to do is this.
She waves her hand over the waters and drops rise up and become a mist.  The mist flows over the land, leaving dewy sparkles on the trees and rocks.  Soon a Human Being stumbles forth from the trees, climbing the cliff to the place where the gods wait.
Human:  You called?
Neptune:  You’re one of mine, aren’t you?
Human: (nodding)  Can’t really help it.  Everybody calls me a flake, but it’s because I’m lost in one of your dreams all the time.  I can’t seem to stay alert.  I have what’s called “an active imagination.”
Neptune:  That’s right.  Now try this!
She sprinkles fairy dust all over the Human, who begins to appear as a sort of shiny blur.
Neptune:  Your turn, Chiron.
Chiron:  Don’t mind if I do.
Producing a bow and arrow from somewhere, Chiron takes careful aim and shoots the Human in the heart.
Human:  Ow!
Neptune:   You should thank Chiron for that.
Human:  What on earth do you mean?
Neptune:  That’s a primal wound he just gave you.  It’s a gift.  It will make your soul evolve faster.
Human: (sarcastically) Gee thanks, just what I always wanted.
Chiron:  I just can’t get any respect.
Neptune does something funny with her hand in the air, and then the Human appears as even more of a blur.
Neptune:  (to Chiron) Oh, by the way, you’ll need these.
Neptune hands Chiron some special glasses.  They have a rose tint to them.  Chiron puts them on.  The Human Being now appears entirely different, and in fact is hidden behind a huge pink cloud that’s where her heart should be.  That cloud gets wispy around the edges, then tendrils start to form, which curl outward and reach in every direction.  The tendrils multiply until there are tens, hundreds, thousands, then millions of them.  The Human Being has become a nexus of love, a heart for everyone who is alive.  There is a look of deep peace on the Human Being’s face.
Neptune:  Ok, I’ve connected this one with all other humans.  Your turn again.
Chiron rummages around in a bag he’s wearing on his back.  It seems to be filled with medicines, remedies, herbs, medical equipment and other stuff.  He pulls out a small bottle.
Chiron:  Stick out your tongue.
The Human Being obediently does so.
Chiron:  This will sting a little.
Using a dropper, Chiron allows one drop of the stuff to land on the Human Being’s tongue.  The Human Being begins shaking from head to toe, and a change in color cascades down the giant pink aura surrounding her, filling it with a stormy grey, which is just as quickly followed by a restoration of pink, now a deeper, richer hue.  The grey cascades out the tendrils, finding its way into the heart of every person alive, and is followed by the warmer, deeper pink.  It is as if the whole planet shudders.
Neptune:  Wow—that was cool!
Chiron, proudly:  Thanks!  You’re pretty cool yourself!
Neptune:  What now?
Chiron:  I think we can leave this to cook for a while.  Our work here is done.
Neptune takes Chiron’s arm and together they walk off over the water.

Chiron and Neptune have been traveling together in our skies for 18 months, bringing spiritual healing and community in their wake.  Now it is November of 2010 and their conjunction is coming to a close.  Here are some posts I’ve written about it:
May’s Triple Conjunction of Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter
Neptune and Chiron Ask You To Bridge Heaven and Earth

This is part of a series of articles, beginning here:
Venus Goes Retrograde: The Myth of Eros and Psyche

Upon first discovering that Eros really has gone, Psyche panics.  We know this because the first being she encounters after her husband’s flight is Pan, the woodland goat-god.  The word “panic” is rooted in Pan, because he is a god of madness.  Psyche finds herself talking to Pan because she is nearly mad with grief and confusion.  Pan gives Psyche good advice, however—he tells her to go straight to Aphrodite and apologize.  Psyche is afraid and wanders around visiting a bunch of other gods’ temples before she finally ends up at the temple of Aphrodite.

Naturally, Aphrodite is very annoyed that Psyche is still alive.  “Why didn’t that good-for-nothing son of mine kill her as he was supposed to?” she wonders.  But a true supplicant cannot be ignored, and Aphrodite cannot just do away with Psyche in her own temple.  So she sets about giving Psyche four impossible tasks, hoping that she’ll die before completing them.

That Psyche meets Pan is fortuitous for another reason:  she needs to understand how to handle panic, because she’s about to experience a lot of it.  Aphrodite has nothing but trouble planned and Psyche will have to cope with her first panicky response to each step of this difficult journey.  It’s better to learn it sooner rather than later!  And what Psyche learns is “have your panic, but don’t be attached to it.  Let the feelings move through you and help will be near.”

Psyche’s Four Tasks, Four Duties On The Way To Reclaiming Love
Psyche must complete four tasks before she can be restored to Eros, or true love.

The First Task is Sorting the Seeds
The Second Task is Gathering the Golden Fleece
The Third Task involves the Waters of Forgetfulness
The Fourth Task involves an Underworld Journey

(. . . because what tale of lost love would be complete without an underworld journey?)

Watch for more about these tasks coming next in “Sorting the Seeds“. . .

We’re in the middle of a Venus retrograde period, lasting from October 8 to November 18.  Today is the day in Venus’ backwards journey that she conjuncts the Sun.  The Sun sheds light into the dark corners and brings illumination to Venus’s domain, which is the domain of relationships.

Has your relationship gotten stuck?  Has romantic, erotic love gone away?  Have you been working at restoring love?  Today look for special insight.  It could arise spontaneously from within or it could come from conversation with other people.  Look for a new understanding that reframes your relationship or how you behave in it.  This insight could come anytime between October 26 and 30.

(If you’re just starting this thread here, please begin here.  Then what follows will make more sense.)

Love Flies Out The Window
When Eros awoke to find Psyche watching him by lamplight, he knew his identity had been revealed.  He could no longer stay.  Dismayed and angered that Psyche had done exactly what he’d asked her not to, he flew away and returned to his mother, Aphrodite.

Did Eros want to leave Psyche?  Of course not.  He was just as in love with her as she was with him.  But he couldn’t maintain their relationship in the light of day, for fear of being caught by his mother, Aphrodite.  Unfortunately, keeping his identity a secret had become a point of vulnerability for Eros, a vulnerability Psyche’s sisters exploited.  They aroused Psyche’s curiosity and fear, claiming that he was a terrible monster and goading her to get a look at him in the light.  Psyche was afraid, but didn’t really believe them.  She wanted to know Eros truly and love the person he was, instead of keeping their relationship in darkness.  So she lifted the lamp over him.

Romantic love is a delicate thing, a dance of illusions.  We want to look and behave our best when we are in love.  When the illusion is shattered, love flies away in fear.  Isn’t it ironic that we come to relationship to be seen and then can’t stand it when it happens?  When she lifted the lamp, Psyche had no idea what that simple act would cost her.  But all the pain that ensued was necessary pain, because without it, her marriage could not tolerate the light of day.  Her desire to see Love face-to-face was the catalyst for doing the work necessary to restoring Love to her marriage—but this time in the daylight.

Let me say this again in a different way.

The human psyche craves love, and will accept it, even if given only in darkness.  The psyche recognizes love as benevolent until fear and jealousy creep in.  When goaded by dark emotions, the psyche will become curious to see the face of love, but upon being looked at too closely, romantic love flies out the window and the psyche has to do inner work in order to restore love.

Have you had an experience of love “flying out the window” in the last several weeks?  Have you shed light on some aspect of your relationship and found that it is not what you thought it was?  Have you or your partner run away from being seen?

Psyche’s journey has begun—has yours?

Read “Psyche Panics” for more insights about this powerful myth.

(If you are beginning this thread here, read this first.)

Psyche wandered the earth, lost in grief.  She found herself at the temple of Ceres, where she cleaned and tidied the harvest tools until Ceres took notice of her anguish and advised her to go to the temple of Aphrodite and beg forgiveness.  Psyche did so.  “I know you don’t like me much,” she addressed the goddess, “but I am in love with your son.  What do I have to do to get him back?”  You could just about hear Aphrodite rubbing her hands together in glee.

Aphrodite declared that Psyche might win her husband back by doing four tasks, the final of these bringing her into the underworld, to the very throne of the god and goddess of death.  If Psyche should complete these tasks, her husband, her love, might be restored to her.

What Does The Story Mean?
The tale of Eros and Psyche is the tale of the soul seeking the fulfillment of true love.  When Eros and Psyche live together in their castle in the clouds, love cannot see the light of day.  It is too fragile.  Psyche’s journey to reclaim love shows us the way to convert ethereal love into the real thing.

Timing of 2010’s Venus retrograde period
October 8, 2010:  Venus turns retrograde.  Love flies out the window and Psyche is cast upon a journey to recover him.  She submits to the process because she recognizes that the only way out is through and that love cannot be forced.
October 28, 2010:  Venus conjuncts the Sun.  There will be a relationship epiphany on or near this day.
November 18, 2010:  Venus goes direct.  Eros and Psyche are restored to each other.  The retrospective period is over, and now you must go on from here with the insights you’ve gained about your relationship.

What Does It Mean That Venus Is In Scorpio?
Venus’ retrograde journey this year takes place in the sign of Scorpio, an apt symbol for the death of a dream, for loss and grief and for the place Psyche’s journey takes her to—the underworld.

In the underworld, there is darkness and uncertainty.  We do not know what is happening to us.  Change is going on, but we don’t know what we’re changing into.  And we have no idea when it will be over.

Scorpio’s message is “trust the process.”  Love cannot be controlled, dominated or forced by the psyche.  Love comes when it comes, not when demanded.  A show of devotion helps, but only if it is not viewed as a bargaining chip.

In the upcoming weeks, as Venus continues retrograde, we’ll follow Psyche on her journey . . .