Can We Talk About Venus for a Sec?
It's Taurus season, so of course we have to talk about it. Feel about it. Be about it. PLUS: Extended Lessons, a Shufflemancy Playlist + Reading, and a Free Mirror Magick Class Recording
Can We Talk About Venus for a Sec?
Taurus season is a season of sensory exploration-among other things. Venus ruled, Taureans bring the very physical aspects of Venusian themes. You know the usual Pleasure, Love, Money, Aesthetics, blah blah the uge. I also find Venus associated with some other topics like “more than meets the eye.” This is mostly because Venus as a planet is super shiny, second brightest in the sky (to us) after the moon. What makes it shiny, are the nasty sulfuric acid in the air. This thick gas also traps heat on the surface of the planet, making Venus the hottest in the solar system.
Venus as the ruler of aesthetics is also a lot about survival. Survival is an interesting theme coming up this Taurus season. I’ll get to that in a minute.
First: You might notice that Kieu Know What has been changed to officially just be $HMEDIUM. I did this to consolidate some space virtually; and, I wanted to make room for a new section that I’ll be using for more personal stuff.
My heart, office, and books are open for May! Check out my calendar at www.kieuco.com/booking or email me at kieu@kieuco.com to talk about payment plans or sliding scale sessions.
Big Thanks to all 85 of you hanging out here with me-esp. the paid subscribers who support my work! It means a lot, honestly. I have such good feelings about Substack and connecting. I’m always around via comments or messages/email if you wanna chat.
Back to survival of the Venus
I had planned to insert a tweet I had seen the other day 1. It’s sadly been lost to the nether of the internet. Basically, it offered the view of Venus ruling over whatever it is that causes us to trust looks to tell us whether something is safe for interaction/consumption or not. We obviously can tell from the outside of a thorny rose, that we shouldn’t grab it barehanded, maybe? Usually the most poisonous animals like snakes, spiders, frogs and other things that scurry-in a dangerous way-are bright colored to indicate that they’re not safe to eat. With foods we can tell based on mold, bruising, squishiness, smell, and taste of something if it’s spoiled or poisonous to begin with.
If we take this lens and just sliiide it over to the “people” aspect of life, we might venture to say that Venus is the planet of obvious red flags. The kicker with that one, is that if you don’t know what to look for-like knowing what a spoiled fruit looks like, or that a bright yellow and green frog should not be touched-then what is a red flag could be mistaken as a “WELCOME” sign.
(PS Isn’t Lori Greiner a Taurus????)
For Us and Our Work.
We have to start paying attention to our “senses”, all the ones that are available to us-which varies for each person. Whatever’s part of your bodily experience, keep track of it. I suspect that this season will show us a lot of signs and signals in the way our bodies feel, and experience life/people.
For example:
If I pay attention and notice that I am just beat every time I finish working with a specific client-or doing a specific session from my menu/making a certain product-it’s time to analyze why/what about that client or menu or product is contributing to that feeling. Sometimes it means I’m not charging enough for my work, time, resources that it takes for me to do or make the thing. Others, it means that I as a human being don’t like making or doing something specific anymore. Perhaps that client or customer is asking more of me than what they are paying me-or they’re not letting me do what they paid me for (like when someone uses a business coaching session as a therapy session….).
This is partly why I chose to switch $HMEDIUM to a quarterly mag instead of monthly. It’s exhausting turning around anything like that in a 30 time period, market it, etc. Plus add in the extra energy of spiritual work into that. I had to adjust based on how I noticed my body, emotions, brain, and even the experience of my physical space or people around me.
Many of us are going to have to get real about what we value, and what just seems shiny. This doesn’t just mean money. It’s beyond that. Wait for Capricorn season for that. No, the way this type of Venusian Value shows up is more in “what we thing is important or valuable”, but is too good to be true-and kinda obviously when you think just past the surface.
Venus is the planet that can sometimes Girl Boss too close to the Sun.
Venus lessons for us creators and entrepreneurs:
A 5am wake up time, green smoothie, blazered Birkin of productivity lifestyle might look and seem very on top of it and put together; however, think about how close your life is to that right now: do you think that switch can happen over night without a major shock to your body, life, and psyche? Probably not. Personally, I believe unless you naturally are like that, and it seems like a fun thing for you, it’s a form of self punishment-but that’s for me and my therapist to talk about lol.
The best website, cleanest looking IG feed, super star video editing might make you look more “legit”, but don’t pursue that at a sacrifice to your authenticity, sanity, or quality of work/product. My personal hell is an aesthetically pleasing restaurant, with disappointing food. Or a high budget episode of a show that ends up being wasted on bad plot, bad acting, and nostalgia as a money grab. Can you tell we just watched the last episode of Picard?
Extended Lessons, a Shufflemancy Playlist + Reading, and a Free Recording of My “Through the Looking Glass” Mirror Magick Class for Cosmic CEO’s this Taurus Season below:
Trust when someone or something just doesn’t sit right with your soul. Idk how else to explain this other than “trust your gut”. Every time I have had a weird feeling about a creator, collab opportunity, event, or situation I ended up being right. Whether I listened or understood why at the time doesn’t really matter. An offer might be too good to be true. A person too neutral to be authentic. A collab based in a “culture quota” and not actual collaboration. A customer asking for a little too much than you’re comfy with as a CEO (but think you should be comfy with as a people person).
Our experiences can influence our moods and vice versa. Physical experiences like the smells or temperatures of our working space; the routines before and after a work day/week/session; frequency of eating and energy levels; brain function dips and peaks based on sleep patterns; the clothes we wear when we are and aren’t in “work mode”. These are all very influential in our ability to show up for ourselves and our clients. They’ll be very evident. Switch the vibe when your work day is done: change lighting, put your comfy clothes on, turn on cozy music, use candles, or find a cool ASMR ambience room on youtube. Signal to your brain and your body that the work day is over, and it can relax.
Sensory experiences are sometimes beyond explanation or understanding-they’re still happening. The famous Taurean stubbornness is interesting to me, as it has always made me think of commitment and trust of the senses. Sometimes we forget that senses other physical touch and sight are valid-which could have ableist undertones-but it’s easy to forget when those are the most tangible. Our feelings emotionally or morally should also be counted as bits of information when making decisions. Even in marketing or advertising, focus on what people will experience as a human-not so much the “value of the service” from a practical standpoint. Tell us how your clients feel after working with you. Share a smell that you know means a certain guide or ghost is around.
Myself and many of my clients experience taste, sound, thought or mental sight when we get psychic messages. For me it depends. Some ancestors of clients have specifically given messages with the tastes and smells of food, because I wouldn’t know the name. I can sure as hell explain the smell and taste of garlic though. This season, learn to trust what your senses give you without having to understand why too much. Sometimes the why doesn’t actually make a difference.
While Taurus is usually seen as a bull, I sometimes see it as a horse. More specifically the phrase “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink.” It also reminds me of the Bible verse: “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19. The overall theme there being Self Sufficiency and Self Reliance-in ways that are both helpful and…not so. CEO and Client alike are learning lessons about what we do for and by ourselves. This includes when we don’t need others to get things done, as scrappy individuals we can buck up and press on. This also includes when we really should ask for help, lighten our loads, hire someone else, and take a break or two.
A product or service suggestion: give the power to the people.
Right now many people are seeking ways to put the tools in their own hands, and get working. We even see societally that many communities that shouldn’t have to do that, are being forced to. While it might feel like we’re giving away our “secret sauce” to the world, we’re actually reinforcing our authority in whatever it is we’re teaching or providing tools for.
Think about it. I can do a whole class on using video gaming for magick; write an ancestor work guide; or make a Notion template that helps you incorporate magick into your home space. I can give my exact methods. Even if someone else follows the directions exactly, gets the same exact tools, and tries to do what I did they can’t. They aren’t me, and that’s the fact. Same as I won’t do what they do the same way as they do it. I am not them.
So create maybe a mini course or DIY ritual PDF/Notion guide. Share more of your ingredient lists and methods of use for your products. Create services that leave the client with a list of actions they can actually do. Make products that can be used in more than one way, and give GUIDES for that. Start adding aftercare guides to your sessions for clients. Trust your clients, audience, and customers to take on some of the work for themselves. They can do it. Training wheels off.
Personal Recommendations:
Work with deities that correspond to Taurus and Venus, yes; but, don’t forget the ones who rule things like routines (Saturn, Sobek), upholding of values/morals (Xai Shen, Ma’at), and hearth/home if you work from your living space (Hathor, Brigid, Guan Yin).
Minerals, Gemstones, and Crystals for clear perception, communication, grounded understanding are all ones that will balance out the Venusian hazy veil of it all. Smoky Quartz is a personal favorite for literally cutting through a smoke screen, to what’s clear on the other side. Sodalite is great for clear, grounded communication-I find this helpful especially when working with Angelic or Ancestral presences.
Mirror Magick! It’s not a bad idea to get creative with mirrors this season. It’ll help us understand and intentionally use information via the hot, reflective powers Venus holds. I did a whole class on working with mirrors and mirrors as a magickal space. Check out the zoom recording free here.
Money Altar build or reset. Whether you opt for physical or digital altars, the physical space that houses the center of your business’s energy needs tending to. Clean or declutter dust, old offerings, tools or objects that no longer seem to be generating a cohesive energy. Level up your altar to represent whatever level ups you want in your business. I like to put my business card, money crystals, figures of cows/frogs/money deities on my altar.
Aesthetic magick and manifestation. Your branding, media posts, and website/profiles can all be portals for magick and manifestation. Adding sigils or symbols that signify the attraction of more money, the right clients, business opportunities can be placed hidden or obvious in whatever graphics you want to put up. In our house my partner has a few sigils for budget, bringing in money, and his own marketing sigil. We’ll also post photos with sigils on paintings, or art that has energetic intention, in the background and in frame.
Take your time, enjoy what you’re doing, and give your body what it needs to be able to do that. If that means time to think, and not do, first thing in the morning. PERFECT. If that means not working on Mondays, and using that day to organize your space/mind/body/calendar for the rest of your week. DO THAT (that’s what I do). It’s okay to indulge while you work-or even in/for your work.
Invest. This is the time to invest-though watch out for sneaky miss Mercury. She’s in her Jeep Renegade rocking and rolling, so read and reread every warranty, contract, large purchase or investment description, etc. It’s okay to start even just making plans towards that new computer, second monitor, streaming gear, website plan, or session with your trusted business psychic Kieu. Wink wink.
Unload some big stuff. We often spend lots of time or money on things we end up not actually needing. Or maybe we find a better, more brain and cost efficient tool that we like better. What we invest can sometimes lead us to holding onto a project/method/or tool. It may feel like biting a bullet to admit that we bought an iPad and probably didn’t need it; or, paid for a subscription to an app or program we realized doesn’t have all of the features we need. Maybe you hate your current website platform; social media strategy; service menu altogether. Get rid of it and adjust. You could be like me: staring at a gaming chair that you thought would make working at your desk more comfy…just to find that it’s 2 inches too short when you assembled it. The more you’ve invested in something that isn’t for you, that heavier it’s weighing you down. We don’t always have to know what the next thing is, to know we don’t want the current thing. Trust. Virtual, physical, mental, and emotional things all take up space. They’re all capable of collecting dust if not dealt with.
Nobody wants to go into a dusty business. Gordon Ramsay taught us that.
A Playlist + a Shufflemancy Reading
Actually, I’m using the playlist as divination, and tapped into my shufflemancy skills! One thing I like about shufflemancy? Music, lyrics, and energy intentionally crafted by musicians and producers give us so many layers of info-which can then in tern be layers of the messages we’re receiving.
I sat down and thought of the energies in mind, and my intention to understand them through song.
I began intuitively picking songs. Usually, I shuffle about 7x to get messages; however, I was drawn to just picking songs that jump out to me. While doing this, I didn’t really try to link them together. I wanted to get the full playlist before interpreting-choosing to analyze the body of work instead of each individual song as I went.
Music and lyrics being signs or ways we’re being communicated with.
“Dancing Queen” was the first song that came up. It set this tone of nostalgia that I’m already seeing coming in more than one form. This is further enforced with songs like “Sade in the 90’s” by Qveen Herby, JLo’s “Let’s Get Loud,” and even “Bad Karma” with both Joan Jett and Miley Cyrus.
In terms of marketing, we’re seeing lots of corporations and small businesses alike resurrect nostalgic trends and themes. Tamagotchi, Bobby Jack, and of course Barbe are all hopping on the trend of 90’s recall. I personally believe this is a great healing opportunity for a lot of us to look at what we were drawn to then with new eyes.
Apple will be (speculatively) releasing a version of their Air Pods that have a screen…which to me basically sounds like an iPod nano, lol.
Yesterday my partner and I watched the last episode of Picard, and it was basically just a giant nostalgia bomb. To the point where it felt like a waste of an episode.
“When I was younger, I should’ve known better.” - from “Ophelia” by the Lumineers Nostalgia is also manifesting more as hazy, or bittersweet remembrance. What I mean by this is many of us will find ourselves, our collectives, and our colleagues even in spaces mentally or spiritually where old memories are being recalled in inaccurate ways.
Sometimes we ask ourselves “I thought I’ve already healed/understood this moment so why am I having it pop up out of nowhere in my brain?” Often times, our state of “gotten over it” is usually the band-aid of healing THROUGH something in the same relative time as it’s happening. When it’s a few months, years, decades even later and it pops up, we have a chance to re-analyze the situation as people who are older, wiser, and view the world differently. Taurus season is full of these moments.
Personally, I think it’s okay for us at this time to start admitting where we aren’t necessarily the “problem,” but we can still be part of the continuation of the problem. I think this is definitely evident with “Are You Satisfied” by MARINA, and “Mon Amor” by SANTE and Camila Cabello. “Are You Satisfied” underlines that we define our own success, how we get there, and what our goals are. They may be different than they used to be. Sante’s song is great, because it’s essentially someone who dates a lot of women insisting to the woman he’s dating that she’s the one he loves.
We will observe, take part in, and work through cognitive dissonance-understanding the disconnection from our words and our actions.
This playlist though is full of motivation. It echoes the Taurean energy of stomping your feet, moving forward, and busting down walls with ground shaking passion. It feels like this new type of growing up, where we look back at who we’ve been and understand that even when we weren’t our best….we were still probably doing our best.
Sometimes we are bulls put into china shops, by people who don’t understand bulls or fine china. Nobody can blame the bull for being giant and breaking fragile dinnerware; and nobody can blame the dinnerware for being fragile. Approach more things this way during Taurus season. Be adamant about learning and moving forward, not staying the same.
One thing that’s evident here is the message of discernment. There seems to be some energy of scammage in the air, both intentional and not. I see people having good intentions, without thinking about whether they have the energy to back them up or not. I see people with intentions that are motivated mostly in greed, spite, or jealousy. Please trust your gut this season. Trust your pacing, your bullshit meter, and your ability to sniff out shady vibes. Like I said earlier, the notion of RED FLAGS will be one to really investigate in your life and self.
Being proud and loud is also something coming through. There’s this unapologetic expression of identity. Many people are looking or starting to embrace everything that they are. Tis is a delightful thing to see. We need more authenticity in this world, in my opinion. Owning up to who we are, what we’ve done that deserves both criticism and praise, might be unfamiliar to many. This season is all about embracing that, and working with the ability to learn-rather than avoid the discomfort. Embrace the weird branding; silly names; cuss words in your copy. Whatever is authentic to you will foster more love for your work from both yourself and the collective that you serve.
That’s all folkz!
I hope you have a happy Taurus season!
“The other day” is a phrase which in this case could mean “two days ago,” “three years ago,” or “last month”.