Circles, Spirals and Retrogrades

 'Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel

  Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel'

(The Windmills of Your Mind,  Dusty Springfield.)

On March 4th, Venus went retrograde, (this means it went backwards, retracing where it's already been). Unlike Mercury who goes retrograde three times a year, Venus hasn't done the backward thing, since the beginning of 2009, so here's an event which we should take note of.

Venus is typically seen as the planet of love and beauty, but it's a little more than that. It's about attraction, what we draw in for ourselves and what we connect with; be it work, money, friendship or love.

Whenever we hear the word 'retrograde', we think 'Uh oh, here we go again!', as if a retrograde planet is something to feel negative about because of the connotation of going backwards. But retrograde planets call us back to review and reflect on those places that we've already been. With Venus retrograde until mid-April, the next few weeks are a great time to look at the value of what you have draw in and attached yourself to. Review where it's taking you, ask, am I satisfied and fulfilled? What needs tweaking? What needs cutting away? It's time to look again and reassess. This is not a time to begin anything new, but to pay attention to what you already have.

It can often feel like we are going round in circles, and if your consciousness is rising you will be ever more aware of this cyclic 'revisiting'. We live within cyclical rhythms; the face of the clock, the passing seasons, the revolutions of the planet we exist on. We travel in circles, literally and metaphorically - it's part of the human experience to visit and then revisit old wounds, old lessons, scenarios which we are learning about in this incarnation, so it's perfectly normal to think, 'Jeeze, how'd I get back here, do I really have to do this again?'

But we must not forget the opportunities we get by returning to any situation life has presented to us, to get another chance to heal and resolve, we get a chance to do it all again, and get it a bit closer to getting it right. So it's an opportunity to complete the circle...come full circle...start new cycles.

We need to envisage ourselves then, moving in circles: not those ever decreasing circles of frustration, but in a forward upward spiral which passes through familiar points. And because we move forward, we revisit them with the wisdom and truth of where we are in the here and now, not as the person we were when we visited last time.

Moving in circles helps us to plot our progress, to reflect on how far we have come. We never visit an old wound in exactly the same way, we visit it from our current perspective.

The full moon on the 12th March was in Virgo, and if there's any sign of the zodiac that likes to get it right, it's Virgo. She is a stickler for detail, she strives for perfection, she will cut things back to the quick. Mix this lunar influence with last month's eclipse season (endings and new beginnings), and a retrograde Venus and you get the perfect climate to cleave away at what's being brought up for you, cut away what isn't working. The Virgo aspect asks that we really get it right and do it perfectly.

So remember guys, retrograde is a chance to revisit. Use this energy wisely to complete circles and move on in your personal spiral of life, and you will have a very clearing, healing month ahead. 

Good luck consciousness seekers....