Joy is the Solution, Not the Reward

Astrology

May 14

“Never think that joy is away from you and it will be with you always.” - Paramhansa Yogananda

Have you noticed that the sky seems to be bluer? That birds seem extra cheerful this spring? That when you emerge from your quarantine all of nature is bursting with color and pollen?

It seems the coronavirus crisis has not dampened nature’s inherent exuberance but perhaps enhanced it.

With our world slowed down, we too can have an opportunity to experience our own authentic joy during the next six weeks of spring. During this time, Venus will be retrograde in Gemini (making an apparent backward motion through the zodiac).

Venus represents our inherent qualities of joy and love. The sign and house placement of Venus in our chart shows what we value.

Venus in Gemini is about the pure joy of finding connection with another person, a thing, or an idea. Venus in Gemini senses the glittering magic of possibility in each moment and wants to share that with others.

Find Your Joy

The stress of our world, the weight of unprocessed emotions, mental strain, and incessant distractions erase the physical awareness of joy in our day-to-day lives.

During this Venus Retrograde, consider how you enjoy connecting and sharing with others.

What inspires you and how do you like to share this inspiration with the people in your life?

Now consider how and when you told yourself that joy and magic were out of reach in the past.

Why did you think that joy was not accessible to you? At what point in the future did you think you would have joy?

How are you repeating this thought pattern (belief) now?

So often we have pushed joy away, believing that it wasn’t right to be happy or joyful when others were suffering, or saving joy for some other day when we would “have it all together.”

Feeling joy isn’t spiritual bypassing. Rather, it’s living in the present moment with your authentic self.

To help you reconnect to the quality of joy in your body, I’ve created a free guided meditation you can download here.

More on Venus Retrograde

Venus Retrograde occurs every 584 days. For details on the synodic cycle of Venus and her Gemini Retrograde, I recommend Julija Simas’ work.

My overall take on 2020’s Venus retrograde is that is an opportunity to reconnect with love as a higher power against the backdrop of massive upheaval in our world.

It’s also an opportunity to revisit whether the relationships you have in your life “spark joy,” as Marie Kondo would say.

Gemini is the sign of the twins and represents the principle of duality as an essential quality of manifest reality. We know ourselves through relationships with other people.

The Highlights

When Venus turns retrograde on May 12 and for the following two weeks, it will be square Neptune. Emotional sensitivity will be heightened and you may find yourself lost in wishful thinking, dreaming, or weariness.

At the same time, Venus will be conjunct the asteroid goddess Vesta which represents the higher purpose of your life.

Note: I often write here about willpower, intention, and discerning the purpose of your life. Check out my previous posts on the Mars Synodic Cycle and planets in Aquarius in 2020.

The new moon in Gemini on May 22 features Venus conjunct Mercury, still square to Pisces. At this new moon, you may be torn between new possibilities and old problems. Neptune continues to blur clear lines of communication and connection.

I see this new moon as a time to honor the paradox of wanting a new way of life, a new way to connect yourself with the world, and feeling the continuing restrictions of the coronavirus and our socio-cultural systems. The way to do this is to practice staying present with your emotions, desires, and visions.

When Venus meets the sun on June 3rd, beginning a new 584 day synodic cycle, this is a moment at the crossroads between where we’ve been and where we’re going.

The reason why it’s important to stay present with what is unfolding for you personally is that the full moon in Sagittarius on June 5 brings with it slight lunar eclipse on the South Node. This lunar eclipse supports whatever is unfolding for you during this Venus retrograde cycle— that is, whatever new intentions, new joy, and new relationships are being explored now— by helping you let go of old emotional habits and beliefs.

Finally, there is a North Node Solar Eclipse at the new moon in Cancer on June 21st, just before Venus stations direct.

Mercury will also be retrograde in Cancer again. (To prepare for that, you could review what I wrote about Mercury Retrograde in Cancer last year.) This Solar Eclipse imbues our new goals with all of the emotional work we have been doing over the past 18 months.

We have literally been stuck at home, caring for ourselves and our loved ones. What lessons can you take away from this experience about how you want to have deeper relationships with yourself and others?

The Bottom Line

Venus in Gemini will help us rediscover the lost magic of our authentic selves, if we submit to her revelation of where we disconnected from joy.

Like the birds and flowers of spring, our true nature is joyous, free, and wild. Though we are going through a collective trauma right now, we do not need to cut ourselves off from love, connection, and happiness.

As my teacher Swami Kriyananda said, “Joy is the solution, not the reward.”