Planetary donation, community care & the personal as political
Connecting the dots between community care and planetary virtues, with memes.
If you’ve been around astrological magic discussions1 for a little while, you might have encountered the notion of planetary charity, or planetary donation. Personally, I think I first heard about it from Austin Coppock, or possibly some of his students (shout-out to wonderful Jo O’Neill for her enthusiastic sharing back in the day).
If you’re interested in astrological remediation at all, I do recommend Austin Coppock’s recorded class Proper Care and Feeding of a Birth Chart. I also wrote about astrological remediation in another article which you can read here.
What is astrological remediation?
As far as what astrological remediation is generally speaking, I’ll quote excellent astromage Kaitlin Coppock2:
In short, astrological remediation is the use of corrective measures to reduce negative manifestations. These can stem from configurations within the natal chart or from transits and time lords – often a combination of both. There are always remedial measures that can be taken to mitigate ill effects! We don’t simply have to accept them at face value and resign ourselves to suffering.
Remediating + Propitiating Mars During Transits and Retrogrades, or in the Natal Chart
I like this non-fatalistic approach to Difficult Times —and how fitting for an article about Mars, planet of action! I find that at best, Mars helps discern when to fight and when to endure; not every fight is a knife fight, and conservation of energy3 is crucial when you’re in for the long haul.
There are many avenues of remediation, and astrological magic with talismans and/or talismanic materia is one of them —bless the Coppocks, as well as other generous and talented astromages, for making it more accessible4. But it is far from the only one! You can attune to planets and stars in many different ways, and doing magic with them can be part of that, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be, nor does it need to be your first foray —I thought I’d state the obvious here because I think the idea of doing magic could be intimidating for a variety of reasons (spiritual and religious trauma, impostor syndrome…).
One other possibility in terms of remediation measures is planetary donation.
Planetary donation
And what is planetary donation? It’s pretty simple: it involves making a donation to honour a planet. But how would you donate to a planet, you ask me? Well, you donate to support that planet’s children: people considered under the planet’s purview.
Connecting planets and their people
For instance, say you want to remediate a difficult time with Saturn. Saturn’s children would be the elderly, disabled people, homeless people, isolated and marginalised people in general, the Dead, ermits, renunciates, clockmakers, clowns, drag queens5, miners, farmers, herdsmen, masons, plumbers, potters, shepherds, tanners, among others6.
If you’re looking to remediate the Moon, you might donate to food banks, women’s shelters7, refuges welcoming LGBT+ people8, children’s rights associations, fishermen, taxi drivers, postal workers, nurses, oyster wives9, pilgrims, pregnant people, sailors, travellers, vagabonds, etc.
Overlaps and disagreements
There can be intersections, wherein specific categories are considered co-ruled by two planets, or attributed to different planets depending on the author. For instance, brewers are given to Saturn and the Moon by Gadbury and Lilly, specifying maltsters for Saturn. “Beggars” is under Saturn according to Dariot, Gadbury, Lilly, Partridge and Ramesey, but Partridge also mentions it for the Moon. According to Al-Biruni, “Magicians” is under Saturn while “Wizards” is under the Moon, which I find particularly amusing. Ultimately, divining is always helpful in making up your mind for this kind of thing, obviously.
Making a donation
Donation can happen in many different ways; making a financial donation to an organisation or specific individuals is the most obvious one, but giving of your time, energy, skills also fits into that category. If you have money to give, that’s obviously very good, and you don’t necessarily need to stop there if you can and want to do something else.
I’ve seen it advised to make a donation in a number (or multiple of that number) associated to the planet. For instance, the Sun is associated with the number 36, so one might decide to donate an amount of 36 to local drag performers in order to remediate a Saturn transit to their Sun10.
Ultimately, while choosing a symbolic number can be nice, I would say any amount you can donate matters. I confess I’ve sometimes raised an eyebrow upon seeing people advertise a $7/month subscription by saying it’s “just the price of a fancy coffee”. I don’t doubt that to some people it is, but for me that’s the price of two coffee bags; I don’t do fancy coffees and I would not consider a $7 cup of coffee something I can reasonably afford. Obviously, this is not to say my own expenses and small comforts might not sound ludicrous to someone else: actually, that’s kind of my point! Know where you’re at in terms of resourcing privilege or lack thereof, and act accordingly. Not everyone can donate $55 to whichever org for Mars remediation and if you can’t, that doesn’t mean you’re doomed by any means, is what I’m saying.
Venus retrograde remediation
As I’m writing this, we’re heading into quite a gnarly Venus retrograde. There’s no point sugar-coating it: this one doesn’t look easy-peasy (more on this below). And looking at current world events, it just makes sense to me that Venus would be going through a particularly rough time. Love is in peril, rights around bodily autonomy are actively attacked, harmony and connection are overall definitely challenged.
Centering Love
Venus devotion brings me again and again to the truth of connection, the absolute necessity of Love as a baseline for anything. If I’m not doing it out of Love, why am I even trying? If I’m not feeling connected, what is standing in the way of that? As far as I’m concerned, Love is all there is to it. Like cherished colleague Pallas K. Augustine says; Venus is always the answer11.
And I will admit getting here took me a while. I used to be somewhat cynical, or just bristle at the thought of centering Love so unabashedly. Feeling vulnerable! Yuck! I had a lot of baggage around Venus topics, for various reasons: having been traumatised by beauty norms and gendered violence, being a survivor of domestic violence specifically, being trans in an increasingly transphobic era, you know, it piles up. But I’m grateful to have encountered people advocating for Venus in ways that have been life-changing — aforementioned Pallas being one of them, but also Diana Rose Harper, Michael J. Morris, and Kaitlin Coppock of course, among others.
This specific retrograde
In 2025, Venus will station retrograde on March 2nd at 10° Aries. In Aries, Venus will be square (by sign) dispositor Mars in Cancer, and will then backtrack to meet the North Node (aka Rāhu), Neptune and Saturn again, stationing direct on April 13th at 24° Pisces.
In Science of Light, Freedom Cole points out that Venus and Rāhu can be related to a “dirty sense of sexuality”. This is a very short delineation, but I find it interesting to consider in the context of people’s sexualities and gender expressions being scrutinised, pathologised and criminalised. What makes sexuality “dirty”, and who gets to decide?
Rāhu is associated to poison, impurity and deceit, and this also seems relevant in how particular populations are (mis)treated. Vocabulary around cleaning and purity is prevalent in eugenistic ideologies that advocate for genocide, “ethnic cleansing”. What this tells me is that we need to watch out for people looking to “purify” how Venus gets to show up; in beauty, harmony, the arts, everything connective and generative. To quote Althaea Sebastiani, Diversity is the nature of the cosmos.
Cole also writes that Rāhu indicates overwhelming experiences that cannot be digested, shock or trauma. These times are nothing if not profoundly traumatising for marginalised people, and I think it’s worth remembering that community care is a major factor in resilience.
We need each other more than ever. I strive for my love to grow bigger and stronger, to multiply in such an insatiable, unstoppable way that nothing can make it wither and die. Love is both the Hydra that drowns out fascism with a torrent of care and lust for life, and the Hercules that slays cannibalistic, dehumanising capitalism12.
Remedy for disconnection
I think remediation is sometimes framed in a way that can make it sound very individualistic. “Scoring planetary brownie points” is one way to look at it. That’s not the approach I take, but whatever works to get people started in attuning to planetary virtues, I guess?
Sure, you can look at transits, go “This looks bad for me, let’s donate to an org so I have an easier time with it” but that’s not the whole story as far as I’m concerned. Donating is, in itself, a act of community care acknowledging that we’re interconnected. Donating means recognising that nobody’s free until we’re all free; and thus helping others is significant to yourself as well.
Jupiter’s role
Donating is inherently a Jupiter mode of action —generous, trusting, balancing. Wealth is accaparated by a few billionnaires while millions are starving; donating where you can is not going to change this overnight, but it is a very concrete contribution to an effort in correcting imbalances.
Just looking to discern where and how you can donate also leads to education on planetary virtues and what the world is made of, in my experience, which is also a very Jupiterian thing! Getting to understand how and why a planet rules over specific groups means learning and re-enchanting one’s comprehension of the world.
Jupiter brings the necessary resourcing and ease that facilitates sharing. Jupiter wants everybody to have a seat at the table, and a plate full of food. Jupiter says “It will get better” and makes it so. Jupiter combats scarcity mindset. Jupiter counterbalances fear and loathing. Jupiter says hope need not be denial13.
I find this all very important to keep in mind as Venus will retrograde from Mars’ domicile Aries back in Jupiter’s domicile, Pisces. I’m once again reminded of Maeg Keane’s wise and enlivening words: sharpen your hope like a knife.
Making plans
It can be fraught to advise remediation measures flippantly. As I mentioned in a previous article, off-handedly giving remediation advice is something that makes me cringe as there are so many factors to take into account, and remediation measures can have big impacts; if ill-advised, one could get into trouble. There’s also a big difference in brainstorming ideas for remediation, sharing one’s experiences, and advising formally.
I highly recommend divining, and/or asking a trusted diviner for insight, if you’re looking to get serious about remediation —checking in with spirits who have your best interests at heart.
This is also why I wanted to discuss remediation via donation, because it’s generally considered one of the safest, most accessible measures you can take.
If you’re looking for very concrete, simple ways you can contribute to community care currently, here are a few suggestions:
donating to Trans Lifeline
supporting local mask blocs14
donating to and/or sharing fundraisers — I can suggest this one for a trans woman of colour who has been looking for work, and is also involved in her local mask bloc, btw!
getting eSims for Gaza
supporting Act Up
reading trans books by trans authors
donating to Queering The Map
supporting Advocates for Trans Equality
donating to the sliding scale fund of a provider you like (Diana Rose Harper does this, as does Maeg Keane, for instance!) so other people can benefit from your generosity
if you’re magically operant, petitioning vigorously!
It’s worth saying perhaps that even if you can’t donate money, you can share relevant links so information circulates. Giving a shout-out is a valuable contribution! On that note, feel free also to share your own suggestions in the comments. And take heart. ❤️🔥
Until next time ✨
And/or discussions of remediation within Jyotish traditions!
I loved this article about remediation Mars so much that I translated it to French with Kaitlin’s gracious permission, here.
Insert remark about Mars being exalted in Saturn-ruled Capricorn.
If you’re a total beginner and looking for some accessible information on astrological magic my go-to rec is going to be Idola Stellarum, a literal treasure trove. Christopher Warnock’s books are also excellent in that regard, The Celestial Way is a great starting point.
Clowns are ruled by Saturn! And I put drag queens in that category because it makes sense to me as an intersection of clown-like dynamics and a marginalised category; I also noticed prominent Saturn signatures in the charts of drag queens, especially Venus-Saturn combinations.
I’ve perused Lee Lehman’s Book of Rulerships to make this list, which is non-exhaustive but hopefully gives an idea of Saturn’s range!
This applies to parents experiencing hardship in general, not just women/mothers, it’s just that statistically there are more women seeking help, fleeing domestic violence, etc.
This is my own take on it. The Moon is a queer signifier, and donating to help people thrown out of their homes because they’re not conforming to bigoted expectations around gender and sexuality… In my book that is Moon remediation.
I was today years old when I learnt that women dealing in oysters were called “oyster wives” and I just had to include that.
Drag performers are at the intersection of Sun and Saturn here, arguably Venus also plays into it, but the Sun and performance is a pretty obvious association. Drag performers bring joy, humour and usually political matters to the fore, which just seems like excellent medicine for the sense of self being Saturn’d. Get some camp goodness!!
Incredibly grateful for Pallas and their advocating for Venus.
I have many more thoughts about the relationship between constellations Hydra and Hercules and an article dedicated to that very topic is coming.
This is my experience of Jupiter at their most ideal beneficence, not a generalisation on all possible expressions of Jupiter. People who have particular emphasis on Jupiter natally may or may not embody all of that!
Masking in the context of pandemics is inherently an act of anti-fascist care. Who benefits from the most vulnerable people getting sick? Who advocates for eugenism and has made that rhetoric banal? Who started out campaigns of extermination by killing disabled people and calling it merciful? Yeah.