Today, on this particularly magical day in my world, Venus rose with the sun. A phenomenon which, like so many others that regularly pepper our lives, we shall not see again in our lifetime. Not until 2117 will Lady Love streak across the face of her sun king trailing stars in her wake.

Aquaria delivers all my odd milestones right from my very first on this day 51 years ago. I have constantly birthed as the 17th of Feb struck a chime that echoes across my timeline shimmering with my greatest loves. My baby boy made his first appearance on this day late last century so we could always share it. All grown up now and taking flight in his own phenomenal way. Love has frequently crept in as the water bearer torrents, delivering beloveds who hold my heart in theirs. My book baby launched from this square on the calendar too, because this peculiar stretch of the zodiac so often delivers my wildest dreams.

Many years on this day I have found it hard to hold its full spectrum. To celebrate when life was nothing like a party, when I felt a long way away from all I hold dear, when the world howled and burned and its horrors felt camped inside me. Again, today. There is no equanimity in how we all exist together, trauma and trilling and discordant opinion passing by each other on the same street every day. But I fervently believe that our milestones are important markers on the spindle of our lives. Each time arriving differently to them with fresh marks on our skin, tender to the touch.

For years now I have been camped at my own crossroads, watching and waiting and weighing my heart against its questions. The ground tilting and shifting, the darkness falling and lifting, time streaking over me like a comet. Only as the Star graced my timeline again this year have I seen something begin to glimmer. Its promise yet to be unwrapped, reorienting me in fresh time and space and laying its pulsing gauntlet at my feet. And like Venus, I'm turning to face its blazing and letting all its bright colours pour out of me lest I miss a magical moment that shall not come again.