Venus in Besiegement: A Time When Harmony, Relating and Mediation are Hard Come By

On March 11, 2022 Venus will enter into what is called besiegement in traditional astrology. Besiegement means “hemmed up or surrounded by hostile forces,” and in this case the hostile forces are the traditional malefic planets Mars and Saturn.

Venus is the planet of harmony, relating, bringing things together and keeping the peace, all of which will be difficult to do when she finds herself besieged.

The dance of Venus and Mars

In this episode, I talked about Venus entering the underworld when she conjuncted Pluto on December 11. This aspect happened again on December 25, when she was retrograde. The third and final meet up with Pluto happened on March 3, when Mars also crashed onto the scene. All three planets entered into an exact conjunction on this day at around 28 degrees of Capricorn.

Although what comes up for you during this period may echo those Venus Pluto aspects on December 11 and 25, Mars – which is extremely strong at 28 degrees of Capricorn, which is both its sign and degree of exaltation – starts steering things in a different direction.

As I mentioned above, Venus harmonizes, mediates and brings things and people together, while Mars causes strife, cuts and tears tears things apart. And they will be “dancing” together in the same degrees for a while, first in Capricorn starting on March 3, then in Aquarius on March 6, where they remain tightly conjunct until around March 11.

Its rare for these two planets to stay so closely together for this long. In some ways it is a positive aspect because Venus can help temper Mars and hopefully prevent some of his worst sides – such as hostility, aggression and violence – from spiralling out of control.

However, this is by no means a pleasant job for Venus – and Venus prefers enjoying herself. And alas, things get worse for her when she enters into besiegement.

Venus between a rock and a hard place

On the 10/11 of March, Venus enters into besiegement, a condition that is well described by the saying “between a rock and a hard place.”

Poor Venus just wants everyone to get along and restore a sense of balance, but she has volatile Mars at her back and grim Saturn before her.

Saturn is strong here because he is in a sign he traditionally rules (Aquarius) and is also the dispositor of both Venus and Mars, which definitely means he has the upper hand.

Photo by Khashayar Kouchpeydeh on Unsplash

Venus stuck between these two is a bit like someone caught between balancing the demands, negations and inflexibility of a boss (Saturn) and the angry impatience of other people on their team who want to charge ahead (Mars). A frustrating place to be, to say the least, and one that she doesn’t have much power to mollify or resolve.

As is always the case, this energy will be showing up on the collective as well as our personal lives. For a better idea how it might play out in your own life, check out the house in your chart with Aquarius on the cusp.

If you do feel stuck and frustrated, wait for March 19 when Venus makes a square to Uranus in Taurus, as this might bring in a Eureka moment that helps you gain better insight about how to proceed.

Venus headed towards oceanic glory

This besiegement, and the frustration and powerlessness it brings in the realms of peace, harmony and relationships, will start to ease after March 28, when Venus conjuncts Saturn and is no longer sandwiched between these planets.

Things will get even better when she moves into the watery depths of Pisces, her sign of exaltation, in April – so stay tuned!