I’ve started wearing a lot of dresses and skirts lately, which is new for me. My own body-image has not always allowed me to wear clothes that attract attention and make me look particularly feminine (Venus). I wear dresses and skirts that are, above all, comfortable. Today I wore my most comfortable dress, a stretchy black tube dress with a short skirt that never fails to attract certain glances from certain people (mainly men), to my great curiosity (Gemini).
For example, one day in May a young man, about 19, moved to the inner seat on the train so I (in the Venusian dress) could easily slide into the aisle seat. His friend across from us moved, too, and they continued chatting (Gemini). Before long, conversation actually turned to their workout regimens, how strong they are, how much weight they can lift, etc. “You have to be joking” (Gemini), I thought. They were a bit smelly, so I had my head turned away from them as they talked.
As the train pulled into the tunnel leading to my station, the windows turned black and became my mirror to see the young men. The freckly redhead across from me looked at me, then at his partner, and said, “Kalt” (cold). His friend replied, “Die muss kacken” (she has to take a shit). With narrowed eyes, I slowly turned to him and stared. He refused to look at me, and they both started to giggle (Gemini). “Ich muss schon pissen, das stimmt” (I do have to pee, that’s true), I answered. More giggling.
It shouldn’t be news to anyone that men treat women differently depending on how we are dressed. I’ve noticed when I’m wearing a dress with a leather jacket and pearl necklace, very well-dressed men who otherwise are never interested acknowledge my presence. I find this particularly amusing since I’m generally also wearing some 10-year-old shoes at the time, and my dress cost less than €20.
Venus is values, beauty, the finer things in life. From May to early June, Venus was stronger in the realms of perception and communication (Gemini). Maybe we heard and saw Venus more than usual. Maybe love (Venus) was more variable (Gemini = Air).
My friend “Tricia” used to be “Jim” (not the real names). Several years ago, she made the switch. Tricia is a manager at an international bank, and every member of staff she deals with was fully supportive of her transition. Tricia knows what it’s like to be looked at both (Gemini) as a woman and as a man. She has noticed her standing in society decrease as a result of her new gender identity. She is being talked down to and taken for unintelligent where she never was as a man. Simultaneously, Tricia is enjoying being seen as a woman, being able to charm men with her very feminine flair (Venus).
I cast two charts for Tricia, one for Jim at his physical birth and one for Tricia at her re-birth, the Monday morning in 2008 when she arrived at work (and in the world) with a new name. A bi-wheel of the charts shows a striking Sun-Sun opposition between Jim and Tricia, to within one degree of exactitude. What an incredible symbolic representation of their opposite identities (Sun). Jim’s Sun is in Virgo, the sign of the maiden, with Tricia’s in, of course, Pisces, the shapeshifter.
Tricia’s new body is a work of art (Venus), and she physically embodies the artifice of duality (Gemini). On the level of Pisces, which currently contains Chiron (the process of deep healing) and Neptune (dissolution of boundaries), there is no duality. All is one.
Anne Stuecker has been studying astrology since 2008 and is a student in the Foundation Course at the Faculty. She graduated magna cum laude from George Mason University and is a member of ISAR. Anne lives in Frankfurt, Germany.