On the Erotic Ecliptic for February 2023

Horoscopes For Your Pleasure: ALL SIGNS INCLUDED FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

Dates to note:

3^rd: Sun in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (9:50 pm ET)

4th: Venus in Pisces square Mars in Gemini (10:29 pm ET)

5th: Full Moon at 16 degrees of Leo (1:29 pm ET)

7^th/8^th: Venus in Pisces sextile Uranus in Taurus (12:29 am ET/9:29 pm on the 7^th for PT)

10^th: Mercury conjunct Pluto in Capricorn (12:16 pm ET)

11^th: Mercury enters Aquarius (6:22 am ET)

15^th: Venus in Pisces conjunct Neptune (7:25 am ET)

16^th: Sun conjunct Saturn in Aquarius (11:48 am ET)

18th: Sun enters Pisces (5:34 pm ET)

19^th: Venus in Pisces sextile Pluto in Capricorn (12:05 pm ET)

20^th: New Moon in Pisces (2:06 am ET/11:06 pm on the 19^th for PT)

20^th: Venus enters Aries (2:56 am ET/11:56 pm on the 19th for PT)

21st: Mercury in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (5:22 pm ET)

22^nd: Mercury in Aquarius trine Mars in Gemini (3:14 ET)

Eros remains in Sagittarius all month.

Well, hello there, February. Before we get to our monthly overview, a bit of necessary housekeeping. I just want to THANK YOU ALL for your love and patience. If you missed my message from earlier in January, both of my pushing-80 parents got Covid for the first time a few days after going to a New Year’s Eve party – their first unmasked social event since early 2020. My mom was hospitalized (she is okay, thank god). Then I got Covid after collapsing from full-time caretaking of both of them – it was extremely mild but also for the first time. Suffice it to say, the stress and trauma knocked me the hell out, and I was unable to catch back up to delivering my promised podcast. My most significant symptom was a hoarse voice which persisted through much of the month. This month I plan to make up for that by giving you two podcasts! The first one will be posted on Friday the 3rd, and the bonus podcast is planned or the Sun’s arrival in Pisces on the 18th.

I also need to say that as we enter Black History Month, I am feeling immense grief deep in my bones that we’re once again mourning the loss of another innocent Black man, Trye Nichols, who was just trying to get home. As we entered Pluto in Capricorn in 2008, I had the highest hopes that we’d make a dent in eradicating the poison of white supremacist systems by the time it finished its long tour and America’s Pluto Return completed. What did happen in these last 15 years is that we at least started talking about the horrors wrought by our history on this soil, but the work must continue. This month I’ll be watching the 1619 Project on Hulu and re-reading bell hook’s all about love to steep myself in the ways we can use love as a prayer to build justice movements.

On a much happier note, I have an announcement! As the kids say on Twitter, some personal news:

I’ll be working on this book during the coming months and I might just send out an astro-sex survey or two to you, my darling readers, so keep your eyes peeled for posts along these lines.

Now, to your forecast. This abbreviated mid-winter month brings the potential for chill vibes and hot sex, but there is a definitively edgy anything-goes energy lurking in the background, like we’re standing near the buzz of an electric fence. What’s beyond that charged boundary? The answer is March, arguably the most intense, transformational month of the year. Even though we’re not quite there, preparation is in order. Depending on how you look at February, it’s either giving ice storm or naked on a rug in front of a crackling fire with a lover. Or both.

The chill vibe is courtesy of all the planets now direct – we won’t experience our first inner planet retrograde of the year until Mercury goes out of phase in April. The reason for the hot sex? Venus is BUSY and JUICY af all month.

The goddess of love and beauty seems to want to star in her own one-planet show, which is kind of cute – it’s Valentine’s month after all. But that’s merely a coincidence. We understand that our late capitalist version of V-Day is a manufactured holiday devised by card and lingerie manufacturers, but truly, Venus is at her sensual, ethereal best while exalted in dreamy Pisces until the 20^th.  

In the sign of the collective unconscious, Venus knows that love is compassion, that compassion is love, and that giving is better than receiving. It’s like empathic energy is echoing into the collective through a whale song that we can all hear when we dream, when we kiss, and especially when we tune into our inner Venus. I have Venus in Pisces natally, and one thing it can do is make you give your beloved everything you have without expecting anything back. That’s because you know you have a boundless soul connection that transcends time. I realize this sounds ridiculously woo, but it’s something you might be able to feel into while Venus is in Pisces. Short of that, it’s just wildly fucking romantic.

I highly recommend watching The Last of Us, a deeply beautiful story about love and survival at the end of the world. (If you do and haven’t yet seen episode 3, the next two paragraphs contain spoilers.) If you haven’t seen it, run to your HBO Max subscription for some powerful, healing storytelling made for our times. In so many ways, Frank and Bill’s gorgeous, vulnerable love story is a metaphor for the astrological storms we’re weathering right now.

With the Sun in Aquarius square to its modern ruler Uranus on the 3^rd, we’re like Bill locked in our basement bunker trying to fend off emotional and physical anxiety. But Venus in Pisces squaring Mars in Gemini on the 4^th might feel like finding the love of our life in a ditch, and first perceiving them as a threat in a cold, cruel world. This could be sudden, hot, and unexpected, but tender at the center.

Processing collective trauma, something we’re all doing right now whether we know it or not, should not keep us from softening into emotional vulnerability. Holding on too tightly to fear stored in your autonomic nervous system shouldn’t stop you from experiencing copious pleasure this month, whether you give it to yourself or let your lover provide it.

The Full Moon in Leo windmills down the runway and lights us on fire on the 5^th (but we can feel it getting hotter several days in advance). This lunation is square to Uranus in Taurus, returning us to that electric fence and daring us to touch it, testing the intensity of the shock. In relationships, we may seek novelty and if we’re on the apps, we might be drawn to humans that don’t fit our usual type. This is all about embracing experimentation and letting ourselves be seen.

This vibe stretches into the following week, with slightly less Leo-inspired drama, as Venus in Pisces sextiles Uranus in Taurus on the 7^th and 8^th. This is SOOOOO SENSUAL and sexy, yowza. Lean in to this, because Mercury conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn on the 10^th and enters Aquarius on the 11^th, making our communication style more consumptive and Saturnian, and possibly bringing up some possessiveness and jealousy. Valentine’s Day itself doesn’t have any noteworthy aspects other than the Moon in Sagittarius, but Venus in Pisces is conjunct Neptune the next morning. The colorway for this moment is a pastel kaleidoscope in a mist of pink fog. It's easy to fall in love with vapor, but why not enjoy the moment? As long as you know it may not be real there’s nothing wrong with feeling good.

The crash comes quickly after all the yummy vibes, so you may still taste the sweetness on your tongue as the Sun in Aquarius conjuncts Saturn on the 16^th, ripping off our rose-colored glasses and making us watch the news and take accurate notes. By the 18^th, the Sun dives into Piscean waters, giving us a few weeks not wholly dominated by hard, fixed air signs (until Pluto moves into Aquarius later in March). The next day we receive the New Moon at 1 degree of Pisces, an opportunity to script our next six months of dreams and fantasies. Note which house Pisces lives in in your chart, if you have any planets within five degrees of this lunation, and set your intentions with that in mind.

Venus shimmies out of Pisces and explodes into Aries within minutes of the New Moon, flavoring what would be a softer lunation with a serious kick of spice. This ratchets up desire and places it firmly in the physical plane, rather than just in the realm of imagination where it can reside while Venus floats through Pisces. For the next three weeks, we’re hot to trot, if we want to be.

Mercury in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus on the 21^st and trines Mars in Gemini on the 22^nd, returning us to jittery themes from earlier in the month. Take care when sharing your feelings with a lover, because this can be a bumpy moment for relationships, especially if we’re not in tune with our own nervous system and actively co-regulating with our partners.

If you liked this free forecast and you’re hungry for more about how your Sun, Venus, Mars or rising sign will experience the month, please sign up for a subscription. I’m keeping the price capped at $36 through the beginning of March because I lost most of the month of January to Covid and its aftermath.