Can you Feel Them? (Getting Energetically Intimate with Planets)

Wikepedia, Solar System

Perhaps this is off the wall for some of you, but feeling the energies of the planets goes a long ways in reading transits in charts.  For instance, when a client sends me their data and I pull up his or her chart on my computer, I feel like I'm staring at a spider web strung with symbols.  In order to do a reading, I need to interpret those symbols into archetypes and then into scenarios.  I found that connecting with each of the planet's energy helps me with this process.  I have also spoken with one other astrologer who has taken this route.

I am by nature a feeling-emotional person with Neptune in Scorpio near my MC, a Pisces Moon, Cancer Sun and Saturn also in Pisces, Mercury in Cancer.  I can think clearly with all of that and even to the point of over analyzing situations, but mainly I'm a feeler and this is my main function.  So when I started feeling the energies of each of the planets, I knew I was well on my way to relating to them deeply, like long lost friends or cosmic totems.

The Sun, Wikepedia

Let's start with the Sun because we are all familiar with him or her depending on which translation you wish to use.  There are actually cultures who define the Sun as female--the giver of light and life so depending on your comfort level and belief system, you can experience the Sun as Divine Feminine.  The Sun equates the hearts of all creatures.  She or he is the center of our universe, our bodies, and our experience.  Sun radiates outward energy, brings us to the point of action, while providing us life in the form of warmth, light, and magnetism.

I once learned a meditation where we visualized the Sun in our chest radiating light.  This caused our bodies to heat up and boy, could we feel that Sun shining in our bodies.  So in getting to know the planets on a physical feeling level, start with Brother Sun (Saint Francis of Assisi considered the Sun a creature).

Next we have Sister Moon.  Again, you can visualize or experience the Moon as either female or male because some cultures around the world see the Moon as male.  But please don't ask me to tell you which ones since I read a lot, absorb a lot and this all this information mingles in my brain.  Then I flow information out in my writing.  The Moon's energy feels cool, comforting, like eating cucumber soup on a hot day.  To bathe in moonlight represents a mystical experience where secrets reveal themselves.  The Moon feels romantic, tender, caring, nurturing, and sheltering.  And you don't need to be a Cancer Crab in order to feel the Moon's energy deeply, but you do need patience since this energy changes, waxes and wanes on a daily basis.  The Moon teaches us about cycles, even the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth as the Moon dies every month and is resurrected to go through the entire process once again.

Ah, Mercury quickens the pace, fills our brains with babble and rabble, and sends us out into the world with a message or in search of one.  Neither male nor female, the energy of Mercury brings balance between the sexes.  The griot, troubadours, and storytellers have a strong kinship with Mercury.  We feel this planet in our lungs, hands, arms, and fingers.  People who talk with their hands and gesture have strong Mercury energy as do people who think for a living, have quick wit, and can squeeze themselves out of tight situations with the gift of gab.  But what does this planet feel like?  To me it feels like a sprinter in a race zipping his way to the finish line with strong breath pulsating through his lungs, his heart pumping away, and his feet pounding the ground in a staccato rhythm.  It's that butterfly that flutters past, that animal that zips past and that message that came so quickly you didn't have time to grab it.

Mars has several types of energy from the child learning how to say no and throwing tantrums to get attention to the warrior in battle fighting for a cause.  Mars feels like strength in the limbs, and courage in the heart, and a focused mind.  The higher octave of Mars feels like a masterful martial artist who knows that stillness is sometimes the best defense.  Mars feels hot, dry, but sometimes sweaty.  It feels like time in a sauna or in a desert.  Mars feels like the color red, tastes like the hottest pepper, and sounds like battle drums.  I think you get the point.

Venus, on the other hand, feels sweet, seductive and juicy.  She tastes like all our favorite foods, but especially like dessert and a good wine.  Venus exudes refinement and graciousness, peace, and calmness.  Venus doesn't need to do anything in the way of action since she magnetically attracts her desires to her through enchantment and charm.  Venus is all Feminine energy and she is the spider in the center of the web who trusts that dinner will arrive shortly.  She's flirtatious and fun energy, life of the party (move over Leo) and the belle of the ball.  When we feel Venus energy we might feel a bit petty or jealous and somewhat competitive when experiencing the lower octave. When we experience the higher octave (Neptune) we merge into One with all Creation. (Obviously, Venus comes before Mars in distance and planetary transits, but for the sake of this article, the planets appear in this order).

Jupiter possesses Santa Claus energy who comes bearing gifts.  Jupiter feels large, expansive and endless filled with idealism, optimism, and laughter.  In fact, I dare you not to laugh with delight when you get a sense of Jupiter's energy.  This energy takes us into a place of mind expansion as we delve into philosophy, religion and spirituality.  We feel like traveling long distance and merging with other cultures, learning new languages, and sharpening our intellect through higher education.  Jupiter's energy is in a word "Hope", but some times Jupiter feels sarcastic, cutting and overly optimistic.  We see brighter and warmer colors, taste fiery foods like Thai and Indian foods.  Jupiter smells like clove, comes off as purple and turquoise.  He is spicy warrior energy and reminds me of India.

Ah, poor Saturn, who has received such a bad rap over the centuries.  Malefic he isn't, but his energy feels confining to many of us, restricts movement and thought, and can keep us feeling stuck.  Saturn tastes like health food without sugar, preservatives or any of that bad stuff.  He is that feeling of exhalation while we contort our bodies into an impossible yoga pose.  He is sweat, hard work, but also a feeling of satisfaction.  He feels like a slow growth economy, cautious, like treading on thin ice.  Saturn can also feel heavy and plodding like a draft horse plowing a muddy field.  For me Saturn feels like carrying a heavy backpack and walking up a steep hill, but once I reach the summit of that hill, I feel rewarded for my efforts.  That's Saturn.

Uranus gives me the sense of flashbulbs going off, lightening crossing the sky, energy that suddenly arrives and leaves just as quickly.  Uranus tastes like health food without any flavor, except that which you imagine. Uranus is silver and white, electric blue or a shocking combination of colors that wows the mind.  Uranus is so strange I can't describe his energy other than it feels like electric static that appears on clothing after you pull it out of a dryer or electric static hair (that stands on end).  Uranus feels like an electrical shock, jolts us and then leaves us numb afterwards.

Neptune feels like levitation or that we are floating in a realm of nothingness. We feel Neptune when we enter deep meditation and slow down our brainwaves.  We feel Neptune while we dream at night or during the waking hours. Neptune comes to us when we gaze at a large body of water or into a starry sky.  Neptune appears in endless blue, tastes like frozen dessert or coconut water or just plain water.  Neptune is that cool ice cube melting on the tongue or just a feeling of melting into oneness.  But Neptune also feels like the sparkle and glamor or Hollywood or any other illusion spun to us by the media.  We reach for Neptune, but that's like grabbing at air.

Pluto feels heavy, dark, and dangerous.  Pluto feels like ghosts lingering in a building, that feeling of walking into a cool spot surrounding by warmth. Pluto feels like we're descending deep into the earth or stuck in a underground coal shaft.  Pluto plunges us into darkness and tells us to show him the light.  His tastes is pungent and smells like sulfur.  Pluto burns in our nostrils, causes our knees to knock and our hearts to stop.  We feel like fainting around Pluto mainly because of his overwhelming passion and intensity.  The higher octave of Pluto is transformation and rebirth through death.  Pluto awakens consciousness and once you enter Pluto's realm, there is no turning back.

The ancients brought personalities to the planets by merging them with gods and goddesses.  But as we have moved into a time of sensory and opening up new senses and awareness, we are ready to feel the energies of the planets and learn from those energies.