It may sound unlikely, but it seems to be the case: recently certain areas of our lives swung into ‘too sweet’ territory. We focused on love, and found a lot of it–who could object to that? Well, no one I know! But the abundance of Venusian energy should’ve alerted us to a wee something, at the back of our minds: just as light is meaningless without the darkness, so is a pleasant energy meaningless without awareness of the unpleasant–and this surfeit of Venus inevitably suggests that at least some of that cheery, appetite-boosting, sentimental, sexy, gooey, chocolatey-goodness was, just a bit . . . artificial. For all the very good effects of training our attentions on the presence of Love in our lives, too much looking for it, too much demanding it, almost requires we be presented, here and there, with a counterfeit.

Today we see where we may be drawing too much from partners or those who act on our wishes, and we may find that trying to apply instincts and bring to awareness what we ‘know but don’t know’ is fruitless–our instinctual nature is all messed up, probably from that sugar overload, which prompted us to believe everything we saw and so took us too far away from our primal nature, that part of us that can sense the false. It’s a day for re-alignment, specifically by turning our active attention to those things we really care about, and those elements of our landscape that we are empowered to nurture. Keep your attention on the Love, especially in those places and people you’ve just discovered it lives, but don’t shy away from being practical or using tried-and-true wisdom in going forward–scrape away the sugar-coating, as it’s the only way to avoid a diabetes-inducing overload of fakery (Sun enters Cancer, Pallas sq Zeus, Venus opp Mars, contra-parallel Black Moon Lilith and Vesta, Merc nov Ceres and sq Zeus).

Forgot to mention that Water Grand Trine, probably because it’s such a foot-slogger. Neptune squats right where he is, anchoring the whole thing in delusion, misunderstanding, deception, creative dreaming, or inspiration not yet acted upon, occupying our brains (Merc in Cancer) and making us optimistic but largely stagnant, response wise (Jupiter in Scorpio). We’re prone to bury the facts if they don’t fit the dream, and we may mistake thinking about something for actually accomplishing something, making this a true weight on forward momentum. Don’t make too much of this; take notes on your daydreams and notice your nighttime ones, but don’t expect more than a slight idea or two to find its way out of the fog.

Today’s word image is two men, a gay couple, and one of them is physically pregnant. The image suggests something biologically unlikely, for more reasons than one, but it may speak to the idea that like-individuals with a common bond may at this time be more productive or fertile than we commonly believe. Often we’re told that we need to collaborate with those who have different talents than we do; perhaps this time, we should cooperate with someone very like us.

Happy Solstice!