Venus, Mars & Michael Jackson

Some number of years ago, I was reading a book or website on Astrology, specifically natal chart interpretation. The writer used Michael Jackson’s birth chart as an example. I don’t remember much of what I read except for one thing that has stuck with me ever since.

The Astrologer talked about Michael’s struggle with what might be called gender expression. Oh, this is good – I was just given that phrase – gender expression. My definition of gender expression is this – it is the way people express the male and female within themselves regardless of their actual gender or sexual orientation.

Gender expression is something that, for whatever reason, I seem to have a specific awareness of. When I look at a person, I see the male and female within them and I see how each is expressed. My guess is that everyone on the planet has a unique signature, a unique gender expression. And again, this is not at all about homosexuality or even sexuality, just expression. [Although I do think one’s sexual expression is indeed a place where they also exhibit their gender expression.]

Remember that book, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus? I never read the book, but it was the rage at the time. Dr. Gray likely touched on gender expression, but I would guess he only focused on men expressing their male side and women their female side. I see both expressed in men and woman and this is what interests me.

Now for the record, I am not an astrologer. I dabble for sure, but I am not even what I would call proficient. However, when I look at natal charts, there are times when I feel like I am seeing something significant. Sometimes it’s as if the chart is simply telling me something I have already observed in the person. Allow me an example...

More than a year ago, I met a man who I observed to have a very strong Mars and a very strong Venus. He was very male (looking), lean and muscular. He was outgoing and confident. I could even see (in a reading) his warrior past lives, numerous and very active within him. Yet at the same time, his strong Venus was also clearly evident to me. I could feel the Venus energy expressed through him, in a number of ways, and just as clearly as the Mars.

In looking at his chart some time later, I saw that there were a number of planets in Aries, ruled by Mars, and that his Venus was in Taurus, the sign it rules and where it is strongest. So, from this, I felt validated in my observation. Maybe the placement of Mars and Venus does have something to do with our gender expression.

Now some number of years ago in the early 2000s, there was an astrological aspect (the Harmonic Concordance) that, at the time, was said to indicate the beginning of an era when feminine and masculine energy would become equal here on Earth. For many, many years before, our planet was dominated by masculine energy and this was about to change.

Since then, it does seem to me that we are in fact moving towards more equality in expression. Men seem to be increasingly comfortable with their female side just as women are becoming more accepted for expressing their masculine side. For example, I see a seemingly increasing number of men connecting to their feminine side as they nurture their young children. And look at how many Hollywood movies have come out in the past 8 years that focused on a heroine of epic proportions – very powerful, yet still very feminine.

In fact, it is not a surprise to me that gay marriage is such a hot topic right now. The Sacred Marriage is the bringing together of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine. Mundane marriage has always been viewed as the bringing together of one man and one woman. Yet if we have both within each of us, then the bringing together of male energy and female energy is not limited to a marriage between a man and a woman. Each pairing of two people brings both male and female together. In fact, since each partner has both (regardless of gender), then a coming together of two people is really two marriages at the same time!

And now, back to Michael Jackson. As you all surely know, Michael chose to leave this realm yesterday. Despite not feeling a specific emotion about it myself, I did find it interesting that he chose to leave Earth right as Mars and Venus begin to separate after a their most recent conjunction. Now, this shouldn't be that significant because surely Mars and Venus have come together and separated a number of times in his 50 years, but for some reason, it still strikes me as significant. I started to write about this to friends in an email, and since the information flowed so well, I decided to start over and put it here in my blog.

So Michael Jackson is a man who surely had some challenges dealing with his unique gender expression. Being so publicly observed probably didn’t help him, yet being publicly observed seemed very much a part of his purpose.

So, could the timing of his departure in and of itself be significant? Could this be a sign, an indication that the battle between Mars and Venus is shifting? It is funny because as I wrote that last sentence, it occurred to me that battle is of itself a Mars concept. A conjunction between Mars and Venus is a battle only when Mars is dominant. If Mars and Venus are joined as equals, what is it? A marriage perhaps?

I see Michael Jackson as one who very publicly exhibited the struggle of male/female expression within the individual as possibly experienced by many others. Maybe as his struggle comes to an end, it is a sign that THE struggle is soon (relatively speaking) to follow and on a large scale. Maybe it is time for the male and the female within us to stop fighting. Is one preventing the other from realizing its desires? Do we think that only one can be happy and in spite of the other?

For whatever it’s worth, and if so inclined, it might be a good time to look within ourselves to see the man and the woman, the boy and the girl, to see what each desires and how much freedom each feels right now.

I’m not sure the man and woman within me are very happy. I think they both want things they aren’t getting and are possibly blaming the other for. Maybe I need to go have a talk with them and see what we can work out... LOL
Let me know how it’s going inside of you, with your man and woman, and have a great weekend in the mean time!