alchemy can be sweet, too
My, what a time the first half of 2025 has been. Between a couple of eclipses, the arduous Venus RX saga, the seemingly never-ending Mars in Cancer transit, the overstimulation-to-the-max of Jupiter’s transit through the sign of its detriment, Gemini, AND the very dramatic simultaneous entrance of Saturn and Neptune into Aries (to name a few things), it’s been a lot. The tarot cards I pulled for the collective this week were the 10 of Swords, 4 of Swords, and King of Cups, with “Destiny Path” and Saturn as oracle cards. If I had to sum up the vibes up the first half of 2025, those seem pretty apt.
10 of Swords speaks to a deep exhaustion at the forefront of our conscious awareness this week, more mental/psychological than physical in nature (although it often co-occurs with an experience of energetic lethargy, fatigue, or listlessness). The 10 of Swords is that rock bottom card that surfaces when things feel as though they really can’t get any worse. I don’t know what has happened for you during the first half of the year/these transits, but odds are, you have experienced something difficult (betrayal? loss? disappointment? crisis?) that pierced the protective shell of your psyche. The sword - representing our logical mind, the stories we tell ourselves (and others), and our capacity to make meaning - has been wielded as a weapon of self-harm. The enormous energy of the analytical brain occupies itself with criticizing, analyzing, ruminating, lamenting, and maybe even dissociating. This is too much to bear. We collapse into the thought spiral.
Here’s the good news: the worst part is over. The 4 of Swords in the center of this week’s spread prepares us for the heart-opening shift that is coming via Venus’s entrance into her earthy domicile, Taurus, and Jupiter’s ingress into its watery exaltation, Cancer, both happening within the week. It’s time to lay down those swords. It’s time to lay down, period. Rest. Recovery. Retreat. BEING. If there’s one thing Venus in Taurus knows how to do (trust me, I know - this is my natal Venus placement) - it’s SLOW DOWN. Ground down into the body. Relax into the slow, self-assured pace of Mother Nature. And honestly, this is just what the doctor ordered.
Whenever the 4 of Swords comes up in a client reading, I ask: When was the last time you took a vacation? Even for just a day. When was the last time you put aside your to-do list and maybe even put your phone on do not disturb and simply let yourself be? This is where the energy of the week is leading. There’s an emphasis on bringing the processing down from the mind into the body. Jupiter’s exit from Gemini will help with this. It’s likely that in its final degrees here, your brain has been functioning like an overheated computer with too many tabs open; the fan is loud, the rainbow wheel won’t stop spinning, and you’re about ready to throw the whole thing out of the window and go touch some grass. The transition from the 10 to the 4 of Swords, and from Venus in Aries to Taurus, is really about coming back to basics and re-simplifying things. This doesn’t erase what happened or magically reframe the thoughts associated with those events/feelings. But it does slow your mind down enough to focus on the energetic experience of this present moment from an embodied perspective. There is magic in this.
What does it mean to experience the present moment in an embodied way? For Venus in Taurus, where she’s literally at home (domiciled), it means savoring each bite before you swallow. Using the fancy soap or the good perfume and enjoying how it smells. Laying down on the beach, by the creek, in the meadow, and taking a nap in the sunshine with no alarm. Touching your palm to your heart, your stomach, your throat and asking - how does this thought feel in my body?
You’d be surprised at how much mental chatter, anxiety, and psychological overwhelm dissipates when we make a concerted effort to come back down to our physical home - the body. Venus in Taurus encourages this instinct, heightening our sense of smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing. Pleasure and beauty become highlighted around us. This is the transit where you notice the jasmine blooming on your walk home, or the Western bluejay singing in the yard. And this noticing has a subtle, but profound, effect on the psyche. After all, we are more than our minds. Venus in Taurus reawakens the goddess in the bodily temple and makes it easier to just exist, as we are, right now.
That brings me to the King of Cups. Jupiter’s ingress into Cancer has been talked about a lot this year, and rightfully so. Jupiter is in the sign of its exaltation, or most favorable placement, in Cancer. All of its best qualities are emphasized. Here, expansion, growth, optimism, luck & wisdom touch that which is nearest and dearest to us: our home, our family life, our intimate worlds. Nurturing, emotional sensitivity, deep connection and intuitive guidance bring blessings. Teachers, caretakers, or mentor figures may pop up (or reemerge) to guide us towards expansive growth during this transit. There is a renewed sense of community, possibility, and receptivity to what the world has to offer us, and to the role(s) that we in turn can play in the world.
Together, these are heart-opening transits that will remind us that life can, in fact, be beautiful, simple, and rewarding. After what may have felt like a journey through the dark night of the soul, the sun is reemerging to light the path ahead. The “Destiny Path” oracle card this week tells us that what we are about to experience is the stage in the alchemical process where we realize that lead has the potential to turn into gold. The struggles, losses, setbacks, and tears we’ve experienced have not been for naught. In fact, they are essential ingredients in the magic that the benefic planets are cooking up for us.
According to the ancients, the alchemical process was comprised of seven stages representing the journey of spiritual development. How do we go about transforming a substance like lead (heavy, dense, impure, toxic) into gold (light, beautiful, conductive, immensely valuable)? Like any other worthy venture, it’s not easy:
Stage 1: Calcination / Breakdown & Disillusionment
Literally meaning to burn something into ashes. Often manifesting as crisis, Tower moments, a growing dissatisfaction with the norm and a hunger for something more. The initial push in the direction of uncharted waters.
Stage 2: Dissolution / Surrender of Control
An accelerating sense of chaos, loss of control, and changeability. The process of transformation has been initiated and momentum is growing. Resistance (though we may attempt it) is futile.
Stage 3: Separation / Destruction of the False Self
The shadows come out to play, the masks fall off, and perspective begins to shift in a way that calls everything previously assumed to be true into question. Authentic feelings rise to the surface and demand recognition. Liberatory quicksand.
Stage 4: Conjunction / Integration of the Whole Self
A gradual merging of the conscious and unconscious selves, and a striving for balance between the two. Acceptance of the dual nature of the self and reality. A sense of peace begins to settle into the gray area.
Stage 5: Fermentation / Testing of the New Self
Through exposure of the newly integrated self to other people, places, concepts, things, etc., we release that which we have outgrown/needs permission to die, and create space for that which we are growing into/needs room to expand.
Stage 6: Distillation / Purification through Focus on the Essential
A final purge of impurities and the concentration of the true essence through the direction of intense focus. Cutting out the bullshit to come back to basics. What is non-negotiable and essential?
Stage 7: Coagulation / Rebirth into Self-Awareness
Fluid thickens into solid matter. Finally, hard-fought insights are crystallized into something of substance, grounded in the material plane. A fresh set of eyes look at a blank canvas and sees a rainbow.
Sound familiar? If one of these stages particularly speaks to you now, trust in the divine timing of the present moment. You are being led through this process of transformation. Wherever you may be now in this cyclical coming to (self) consciousness, you won’t stop there. Can you trust the journey?
As Venus makes herself comfortable in Taurus today, June 6th, and Jupiter arrives in Cancer on the 9th, my wish for all of us is that we realize that we are not only the substance being worked/transformed/alchemized, but also the alchemist performing this magic. What a lovely duality of this silly human life!
If you’d like to peek into what these transits will activate for you, I am open for private readings and would love to channel some messages for you. Click the button above to schedule your own reading via audio recording, Zoom, or in-person in Pasadena.
And, as always, stay blessed!