Seduction and Power, Take 2: Venus, Scorpio, Money and Control

This week’s entry of Venus into Scorpio, coupled with the buzz of global financial meltdown, has my thoughts turning once more to the darker side of power and seduction. Of course, like Mercury retrograde, Venus is not the instigator of the mess in the financial markets. There are lots more likely contenders for that honor. But this week’s news peak reflects the energy
of Venus in Scorpio in an interesting way.

The entrance of the beautiful, shining Venus into the dark, murky waters of Scorpio brings a more personal, more intimate perspective to issues of power and seduction. Whereas Venus in Libra may have tried to equivocate, compromise and create the right atmosphere for seduction, in Scorpio she becomes more forthrightly demanding, possessive and controlling. She’s done talking about abstractions and ideals. She’s finally able to admit that, as every Don Juan knows (or should!), you’re always more attractive when you talk about me.

This kind of power-seduction dance could happen anywhere — in the bedroom, at the movies, in the grocery store — but we saw it play out clearly last night in George W. Bush’s speech appealing for Americans’ support of his $700 billion bailout plan. The President made a point to personalize the financial crisis for Americans, saying that if the situation is not addressed fully and rapidly:

More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet. Foreclosures would rise dramatically. And if you own a business or a farm, you would find it harder and more expensive to get credit. More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs. Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. And ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession. (Italics and boldface added)

The seduction here is undeniably the dark side of the Scorpionic: controlling, based in fear, based in loss. While evoking partnership in true Venusian fashion, it is clear that the speaker (not surprisingly) wants control of that partnership placed squarely in his court. So he talks about us, which makes us listen, and then rivets us further by evoking our scariest fantasies of personal catastrophe and unthinkable loss. Then he goes back to the benevolent dictator role by promising to take care of us: Don’t worry. Daddy is in control. Trust me.

The speech also can’t help but evoke the central symbol of the current crisis: money, our culture’s quintessential mechanism for self-possession, self-control, self-determination. Who has it? Who doesn’t? The beauty of a democracy is that everyone (in theory) has one vote. The beauty of capitalism is that (even more in theory) everyone has control over their money. But if we don’t have personal control over a little cash, or if we have no cash at all, then who exactly is in control of our lives? It’s one of the central things counselors tell women who are being abused in their homes: Stash a little cash away, if you can, for the time when you have to run — when you can finally take control of your own life.

It’s a paradoxical appeal, in a way. In asking us to bless his bailout package, Bush asked us to entrust power and control to him in the short-term so that we can be more assured of personal power and control in the long-term. But how do we know he will use the power for good? And how do we know we’ll get it back?

This week’s planetary positions indicate there is a key choice in response to this moment of crisis. On one hand, we could work toward a greater understanding of the crisis for the purpose of moving ahead with new structures and perspectives. (Granted, this possibly might have to allow for the total breakdown of the current system — not because of urgency but instead because the power of knowledge sometimes leads naturally to change.) Or, on the other hand, we could try to placate the situation through sweetly-phrased power-grabs and drowning the whole ugly mess in a thick, sugary coat.

Of course, a greater understanding requires more learning, more information, more data. The brevity and vagueness of Bush’s bailout plan don’t appear to support that path, at least in the short-term. That’s what really frightens me.

Look, I’m not scared of massive, systemic Plutonian breakdown and change. I believe if it comes, something else — and, optimistically, something better — will come in its place. But I don’t know that you can make the best go-forward decisions without the full scope of important information, without shining a light into the darkness. This, rather than sugar-coating a gunky swamp, is what Venus in Scorpio could really do over the next few weeks: lighten the dark.

Sure, knowing ahead of time what’s in those murky waters might still kill you, but at least you’d know enough to pack your snakebite kit.

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P.S. This is my first foray into astrological political blogging. Please let me know what you think in the Comments section below! Should I forge ahead bravely or go back to more personal reflections? Or some combination of both?

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