#vmastrology

Tessa's birthday chart this year has change as a theme and the question of what comes next? how to move forward? it has a Balsamic moon, which can mean nearing the close of one chapter but having no structure yet for where you're going. 5-6 planets in fixed signs can mean changes can be viewed as if they're all or nothing and feel intimidating, but having faith rather than acting from fear or stubbornness will help you not feel stuck.

this chart is heavily earth and water and lacks fire and air: material issues, work/job are emphasized. you may be more sensitive emotionally and feel overwhelmed, but intuition is also heightened. a time of gaining experience and gathering info, working with your immediate needs rather than long term plans. you might feel inexperienced and sometimes low energy or enthusiasm. it can take trial and error and following your gut rather than your head to find your way

there's what's sometimes called a minor talent triangle between the Sun, Mars, and Neptune in this chart which looks positive:

The combination of Sun and Mars in sextile gives you energy for accomplishment. you have the ability to be a team player, other people don't get in your way, and you find that the tools you need will be available to you. The Neptune piece of this can start out as confusion and uncertainty about your direction, making it necessary to move forward without knowing the details. but it also connects you to intuition and sensitivity which help you gain awareness. helping others brings good things to you. it adds up to being able to function productively even when you're unsure.

Mercury in the chart can be your thought process, and it's conjunct the North Node, emphasizing mental energy and communication - Mercury sextile Saturn - at least one major decision to be made. a tendency to be cautious or conservative because you're looking for options that will give you stability. this can be about planning, organizing. completing a major project (she still has a capstone project to finish on this masters degree this summer)

Venus is about relationships, finances, values - it's trine Saturn: possibly adding more structure to a relationship- could mean buying a home or marriage. she's going to have a similar aspect in 2024, though, so this applies next year too. without a birth time, it's hard to see which area of life this is about - it may or may not be either

Mars in a solar return (bday) chart can be about where and how you spend your energy. It's opposite Pluto: control issues. conflict or lack of balance between two areas of your life. or your needs and wants are in conflict with those of someone else. the unconscious motivations that drive you can be raised to awareness. habits and attitudes that hold you back might come up to be dealt with

Jupiter is conjunct the North Node: good sign for new opportunities and growth. It's also closely square Pluto: you're driven by wanting success. need to stay balanced ethically and find balance between your personal and professional lives or your relationships suffer. this energy can be success but at a price. it might show you where you need to modify your goals and to figure out your true values

The big transit of the year is Saturn in the sky transiting and squaring her Gemini stellium- Tr Saturn square her Mercury (May, July-Aug 2023, Jan-Feb 2024): your viewpoints may be challenged if they've become too fixed or out of date, feeling alone because others don't share your ideas Tr Saturn square her Venus (May-July 2023, Jan-Feb 2024): tension in relationships. your need to be yourself is greater. relationships that don't work with your true self might need to change or be left behind. loneliness. a time of clearing out - your sense of freedom and individuality might be tested by relationships Tr Saturn square Jupiter (Mar-Apr 2024)- you might feel like your freedom of action is limited or that you're not free to take opportunities you want. a time that tests how well you put your life together, especially in your profession. feeling extreme restlessness and a drive for freedom

On April 21, there was a solar eclipse at 29° Aries. Solar eclipses are like a supercharged new moon - the sun and moon meet in the same degree and sign- and represent beginnings or new energy coming in. The effect of a new moon can last a month, but an eclipse resonates for about 6 months. This eclipse is at the very end of Aries and makes an out of sign square to Pluto. This brings up themes of power and conflict, and in Aries this relates to independence and personal courage. Ways you're not being true to yourself or where you need to stand up for yourself might come up.

The positive traits of Aries - being straightforward, brave, being real without apologies or hiding are good ways to deal with what comes up in the next 6 months, while negative traits of Aries - hotheadedness, impatience, intolerance, reacting and not taking time to look deeper - will cause you more struggle or pain.

Scott's Jupiter is exactly 29° Aries. And his Jupiter is the apex of his Thor's Hammer which involves his Venus and Saturn as well. Your chart is interconnected, so what affects his Jupiter affects the entire configuration - the entire Hammer was lit up by the eclipse:

In a Thor's Hammer or any pattern in your chart, the planets are constantly talking to each other - they never stop. His Venus square Saturn makes you want relationship very much, but also can give the belief deep down that you're not worthy of what you truly want. So self esteem needs to be worked on. It can also make it difficult for you to express yourself. Saturn can delay things, so you have to learn certain lessons before you can reap rewards. Thor's Hammers require a ton of trial and error - you have to keep trying and trying and trying. But they also give you the drive to do so. So you see this with Scott in work - Jupiter being the top of the pattern and connecting to Saturn gives him unbelievable drive in his work. Years of working relentlessly to become better at skating paid off

Tessa turns 33 today, May 17, 2022. The chart for today gives a snapshot of the year ahead for her. Without a birth time, we're missing crucial info, but here's what we can see:

Her birthday is a day after a lunar eclipse: a year of balancing different needs- your emotional needs and external goals may not agree. past issues coming up to be processed

Mercury in the chart is retrograde for the year: going inward, integrating the info you've been gathering to give you a new outlook. valuing the inner authentic qualities of relationships more than external or superficial ones. taking care of unfinished business. can also mean staying quiet about your opinions to keep the peace, but then opening up closer to next year

This chart has several Sun aspects, which can be about identity and how you direct your life-- Sun square Saturn: a need to change values or goals. limitations or restrictions which require persistence and being realistic. Sun trine Pluto: a slow process of empowerment, developing awareness that helps you change your life. And Sun conjunct North Node: people coming into your life who help your personal growth. teamwork and meaningful connections are themes. feeling purposeful this year

Having contrasting energies in a chart isn't unusual and this chart has Mars conjunct Neptune, which can mean uncertainty and confusion about direction or feeling aimless. working from a place of creative inspiration and intuition can allow you still to be very productive. But Mars and Neptune also sextile the Sun: higher energy for setting goals and conditions being favorable for success. a healthy sense of competition and working well with others. also feeling more sensitive and generous.

And Mercury sextile Jupiter: broader point of view, feeling optimistic, like anything is possible.

This is a 10th house profection year, associated with career and public image. These come around in 12 year cycles, so the last time she had a 10th house year was May 2010-May 2011, right after the Vancouver Olympics- she had new opportunities opening up, she started working with brands. This year she's graduating from her EMBA in June and starting a new post-degree chapter with work. 2010 was also the year of her 2nd surgery, so she was dealing with leg problems and couldn't compete for most of that year. Going back one more 12-year cycle, May 1998-May 1999 was also a 10th house year, and that was her 2nd season skating with Scott, they started going to Kitchener to train, it was the first summer she went to the National Ballet School, and their 1st win at a formal competition in January 1999. That year, their season was also paused by an injury, but Scott's- he broke his arm playing flag football in the fall. So there's a theme of new starts and opportunities and needing to take pauses for injury. Hopefully only the new opportunities part carries over to this year.

In addition she has these transits to her birth chart: Saturn square Sun: (now-early July; Jan-Feb 2023) challenges which require patience or perseverance. a time when it becomes clearer what endeavors and relationships are worth continuing

Pluto trine Sun: (July 2022-Jan 2023) meaningful and powerful personal growth, a sense of having survived heavy challenges and reached a new level. a good time for taking steps towards personal advancement. may become aware of issues and needs which have been unconscious until now

And several Jupiter transits, all squaring her Cancer/Capricorn planets-- Three passes of Jupiter square Uranus: (June, September, and Jan 2023) can be sudden opportunities, or feeling restless and impatient with restrictions, wanting to break free

He has Mercury square Uranus, and the more I learn about this, the more ways it seems to describe him-

Mercury is how you think and communicate, Uranus is change, freedom, individuality-- when you have these squared, you're smart and quirky and need space to be your unique self. you might be impatient because the pace of your mind is really fast. it might be hard to sit still, or you might get bored or frustrated waiting on slower people or doing things you're not into. So probably sitting still in school wasn't the easiest, or maybe days of meetings at a coaching conference, either.

This aspect on its own makes you not attach to people, and you don't need them to get attached to you, so it allows you to have lots of different kinds of connections to all kinds of people. In his case, he has other places in his chart that are warm and about connection, as well as codependency and insecurity, but when he's in a good place, he's able to move lightly and easily in the moment among a lot of people.

The way he's been known to blurt things unintentionally, or to run at the mouth in ways that may not be fact - that can be connected to this. Because your thoughts are moving so fast, your mouth can spill things that haven't been considered-- where afterwards you might (or might not) realize it technically wasn't true. for most people I know who have this aspect, it's more that things come out in a way they didn't mean than it is about not being truthful, but it can also make you gloss things over and misdirect rather than be too revealing or vulnerable. There can be a tendency to just move along to the next thing rather than reflect, unless you have other more thoughtful or grounded elements in your chart.

One aspect that stands out in Scott's chart as painful is Venus square Saturn. No aspect stands alone in a chart - this one is the crux of a bigger pattern that seems to involve his sense of self worth and how he does relationships. Venus is relating, pleasure, what you value, how you want to be loved. Saturn is limitations, responsibility, delays, structure, what you build over time. With these squared to each other in your chart there can be difficulty getting the love you want until you learn to value yourself. Can't tell exactly where he is with this, and not everyone who has this will have wounding around it, but the way this is set up in his chart, it's complex enough that it might take time and work to solve.

You have less confidence in showing your feelings or being able to let go and really love without reserve. You might have to learn to believe that you can receive true love-- otherwise you might choose conditional relationships or frustrate the paths that allow you to have the security of a healthy relationship.

With Venus square Saturn, there may be a tendency to focus on the worst possible outcome and that can cause you to act in a way that makes that worst outcome happen. You can really get in your own way.

You may not be confident that you can be loved for who you are or your true self, so you can reject true love without realizing that's what you're doing. It happens through the choices you make- by choosing less consequential options which feel safer. You may not feel lovable or special, and that leads you to believe you can't have something significant. You might choose people who don't support you or give you what you need emotionally.

You have to allow happiness in and also need to be honest and vulnerable and admit what you want in order to get that. You have to value who you are so you can set yourself up to attract people who really see you. Otherwise, you get into relationships where you don't necessarily feel good about the other person. You may settle.

With the square you can be non-discriminating- "I'll take what I can get because I'm not worth much," or you overdiscriminate and don't let anyone near you for self-protection.

In Scott's chart, Venus and Saturn are in a Thor's Hammer with Jupiter. Aspects to Jupiter are more optimistic - like seeing the possibility of it going right. But hard aspects to Saturn (and Pluto) will tend to make you see everything that could go wrong. You need a mix of both- confidence and prudence - to have balance. So he has both optimism and pessimism - but the way the pattern is set up, there's more fear and self worth issues around relationships, more confidence built up regarding work - skating and potentially now coaching. His Jupiter can be a help in working out whatever Venus-Saturn issues he may have.

The chart for the Rhythm Dance event, but set for Toronto where Tessa and Scott are in studio to commentate, has Capricorn rising, Sun in Aquarius in the 1st house, with Cancer moon in the 6th house. This is an event chart, so general energies, not specific to them except where the transits hit their birth charts.

What jumps out right away is that Mercury is conjunct Pluto in Capricorn right on the ascendant: that's the planet of communication being given depth and intensity in hard working, ambitious Capricorn. this favors insight, analysis and deeper investigation. These two planets are meeting for the 3rd and last time since late December, so something about communication is peaking and finding some kind of resolution. Pluto rules unconscious things, so thoughts buried or things left unsaid potentially being stirred up. A vibe of empowering communication, which fits the scale and ideals of Olympic sport.

Venus and Mars are also conjunct in the 12th house: feminine/masculine, yin/yang energy meeting together, so favors relating and connecting. In the 12th house, there's an energy of selflessness, a need to put aside ego for the best outcome. Venus/Mars are trine Uranus in the 3rd house: the 3rd is the house of communication, so a flowing connection to live wire Uranus there favors flexibility of thought, fast tempo, and new ways of relating.

The Moon is in Cancer in the 6th house: the Moon is particularly emotional in Cancer, but in the house of work, feelings might come second to immediate necessity, the work of the day

The Midheaven is the highest point in the chart and the public face- this chart has it in Scorpio, so intensity and deep emotion - maybe fitting for an event where there's a lot on the line for the skaters, but also for a meaningful work reunion.

Neptune in this chart is trine the Midheaven: a personal sense of mission, service in public work, seeing the bigger picture with a sense of idealism. And the Sun is square to the Midheaven: tension around hard work and heightened activity with a determination to meet your goals.

Personal transits:

The North Node is conjunct Tessa's Sun: a sense of shifting identity, moving forward towards untried things, excitement as well as apprehension. new paths of development.

And that Venus/Mars conjunction in the sky is conjunct Tessa's Saturn and Neptune in one corner of the yod which always represented her partnership with Scott

The chart for the Olympic free dance event, set for Toronto where Tessa and Scott were commentating, has Virgo rising and a Gemini Midheaven, with Aquarius Sun and Cancer Moon. This is an event chart, for general energies, and only specific to them in how it interacts with their individual charts.

There is a Grand Sextile, a 6 pointed star, in this chart, which is fairly rare. The chart for the last RTR show, though, had one.

This pattern has two interlocking grand trines, one in water and one in earth (the RTR one was fire and air), and is balanced and harmonious by nature.

The Grand Earth Trine has the North Node conjunct Tessa's Sun, the Ascendant conjunct Scott's Mercury, and Mercury conjunct Pluto: there's something here about intense communication, her identity and life direction, with his perspective and thoughts being significant.

The Grand Water Trine has Moon conjunct their composite Venus, Neptune conjunct the Descendant, and the South Node: themes of emotion, partnership with compassion (or confusion) and release of drama or negativity from the past.

The way these two grand trines interlock to make a Grand Sextile, every placement has its release or balance in a placement that sits opposite. So the Moon and their composite Venus in Cancer are opposite Mercury/Pluto in Capricorn (emotional sense of home and the capacity to express themselves in the relationship balanced by intense analytic or deep communication at work). Then her Sun/North Node in Taurus opposite the South Node in Scorpio (a new sense of direction in her life path and sense of identity and things which are buried coming up to be examined and maybe released). And his Mercury conjunct the Ascendant in Virgo opposite Neptune and Descendant in Pisces (the Ascendant gives the POV of a chart, sets up the houses, so having his Mercury rising here, there's something about his perspective that's crucial. And that's opposite the Descendant which is the cusp of the 7th house of partnerships and Neptune, planet of dissolving boundaries, of confusion but also sensitivity and compassion) It's hard to say how or whether this is affecting them, it may not even be felt. But the themes were baked into the event.

The Sun, Moon, and Rising of this chart make a yod shape: it's not a textbook yod because the Rising isn't a planet, it's a point. But Tessa having a near perfect yod in her chart and it representing her partnership with Scott for many years makes it notable that 3 of the most significant things in this chart make that pattern too.

Venus conjunct Mars: feminine/masculine energies meeting in the 4th house of home, roots, family.

The full moon at 8° Virgo on February 27th was square to Tessa's Venus and Mercury in Gemini. This relates back to the lunar eclipse back on November 30, 2020 at 8° Gemini which was conjunct her Venus and Mercury. So this full moon feels like a sort of check in about the issues of the eclipse cycle, which lasts until May. Full moon energies generally last around 2 weeks, until the next new moon.

The eclipse on her Venus and Mercury would potentially bring to awareness ways she keeps the peace at her own expense, tensions in relationships if there were any. It could bring in new business associations and have her take a look at how she's relating and communicating, including on social media. So this full moon might nudge her to take a look at what is working and what isn't, what's been evolving since the end of November.

Full moon square her Venus: might feel more need for affection and company and make you feel more sentimental. harder to feel motivated for work or tasks which are difficult or which don't inspire you. boosts creativity.

Full moon square her Mercury: tension between your thoughts and feelings might make you moodier than usual. but can be a good time for talking things out with someone sympathetic.

Transit Sun square her Venus: might make you aware of imbalances in relationships. but at the same time bring out a desire to have harmony, so can be a conflict between what you realize and what you want. otherwise a pleasant influence that can make you feel more affectionate

Transit Sun square her Mercury: on the one hand, a mentally stimulating transit- you may be full of ideas, but on the other hand, a tendency to overthink or worry. what you're trying to communicate may not be coming across as clearly as you would like.

In addition transit Mars was conjunct her Sun at the full moon, so this energy is present for the next couple weeks: a high powered influence, which gives you more self assurance and more physical energy. an urge to get what you want, a more competitive energy.