The Cosmic Story: Happy New Year! Venus Offers Us A New Perspective.

 

Happy New Year 2022!

 

As we enter the 3^rd year of Covid, hopefully we’ll figure out how to reclaim our lives in a deeper, more conscious way. The Goddess always works in 3, so perhaps we’ll be able to process the changes our world needs to go through during this third year. As we see in fairy tales, there are always 3 tests, challenges, or balls to undergo to create real change.  

As we welcome in this New Year, we once again have an opportunity to do things differently.  Isn’t that what our New Year’s resolutions are always about? Unfolding the new and improved us?

But do we really need to diet and exercise ourselves into shape or do we need to deepen into ourselves and figure out who we are and what we want out of life? What if this year we recognized that we needed to change our perspective, rather than change our diet.

We need to seriously consider how our world is changing and what we want to do about those changes. What if things don’t ever go back to ‘normal’? Do we even want them to? How can we create a different, more life-sustaining cultural norm, which honors the Earth and all of her children in the face of dominator wars and technological machines?

What if we realize that it’s time to begin to live that new norm more deeply and truly? The truth is, if we don’t become the examples of how to live in a more sustainable, compassionate, creative way, how or even why should anyone else?

With this Venus retrograde conjuncting Pluto in Capricorn three times – the last will be with Mars – very close to the degree of the triple conjunction in 2020 of Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto, it seems the message to all of us is ‘to bring real connection and love, kindness and love of the Earth’ into our cultural lives.

That’s where the energies of Venus come into play as our New Year’s guide. With Venus changing from Evening Star to Morning Star rather quickly as January begins (January 3 - 15), this feminine energy will be impatient to get out there and shine. 

 

There’s a certain magic to this shift in her cycle, because she’s joining up with Pluto in his cultural demolition/revitalization project. She’s bringing the wisdom of love into the equation of what makes a good society – if only we actually listen, and then act on it when Venus and Mars and Pluto all meet in the beginning of March. The transits of Mars over these same degrees will lead to action, so try to be patient as you work out your new goals before then.

 

Evening Star Venus over Wickford, RI

 

As Venus slowly disappears from the western sky, she dances with the Sun, baths in its brilliance and, emerging in the morning sky by mid-January, shines with her own light as she becomes the herald of the Dawn.

What better energy to take as our guide at this time of cultural transition and, hopefully, transformation. To do it, we need a change of perspective. In ancient times, when you worshiped a certain god or goddess, you entered into a whole world-view that was shaped by this spiritual energy. 

So what if our New Year’s resolution is to embrace Venus as our guide and mentor?

This would mean to bathe in our self-worth – not a fake superiority over others but a true understanding and owning of who we are. And with that understanding comes our openness to our innate talents, which might not be what patriarchy would actually value in us. But what if we valued it, and it turned out to be valued by others in our community?

Of course Love would be a big part of this world-view, but not just a romantic love that chooses only one passion or person. Rather, it is a love of life, of joy, of our sexuality and our sensuality. A love of nature, of others, of seeking and learning, nurturing and helping, creating and playing. What if we choose real enjoyment – (Old French enjoir "to give joy, rejoice, take delight in," from en- "make" (see en- (1)) + joir "enjoy," from Latin gaudere "rejoice"). Venus/Aphrodite is all about taking joy in life.

Aphrodite & the 9 Muses

Another aspect of culture that Venus/Aphrodite encourages is The Arts. She hangs out with the Muses, so why not take some time and journey to see them. Perhaps there’s some artistic project that is calling for you to manifest. Art can heal our differences, just as good music can. We need our artists if we’re going to change any cultural patterns. 

 

Another value Venus in Capricorn embodies is Sovereignty, the ability to govern ourselves – to belong to ourselves. But in ancient times, the Goddess Sovereignty claimed that the needs of Mother Earth had to be the foundation of society. Something we need to incorporate in our vision of the future. I’ll be telling the story of Sovereignty at my January 8^th talk. (See below)

 

This is the spiritual energy which grows our psyche or soul. When we turn our passion and imagination to life, we create beauty and art, no matter what form. Without it, we get what we have now – a soul-less culture that panders to the profane and insipid. A flat-earth ideology that isn’t opened to the mystery of life.

Venus encourages us to think about our values. What values do we live by? Do we consciously work on those qualities we say we embody? 

 

In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (I tell this story athttps://youtu.be/aoGARXBcp1w ) he carries on his shield a pentagram/pentacle that symbolizes the virtues he lives by: generosity, kindness, chastity, chivalry and piety. 

 

What values would you put on your pentacle: Creativity, Gratitude, Love, Wisdom, Fairness, Faith, Beauty, Imagination, Compassion, Strength, Order, Discipline etc.?

 

 

The year also starts off with a Capricorn New Moon on January 2, 2022. This New Moon opens the door of the year with a great connection to Uranus in Taurus, the magic of embodiment and Earth’s creative genius. With Uranus set to be a big player in this year’s energy, we all have to get used to surprises and sudden awakenings. The Uranus/Saturn square that was 2021’s major astrological aspect – the old (Saturn) vs the new (Uranus) – will still have lingering effects, so we have to keep choosing the new, the untried, the mystery of life over the security of the old ways. Papa patriarchy is on his way out the door – he can no longer ‘protect’ us. We have to learn to find our own inner security in the face of immense change. 

 

And Jupiter moved into its own sign of Pisces on December 28th.  Along with its co-ruler Neptune, Jupiter will expand our connection to the more subtle dimensions of life.  Stay open to what your imagination has to say, whether through dreams, journeys and meditations. Then have a reality check to make sure your inner trickster isn't shaking its tail at you!  It's so important to ground in the magic now with Jupiter in Pisces and Uranus in Taurus working together.  Boundless Water and Awakened Earth.  More in the months ahead.

On Saturday January 8, 2022, Venus joins the Sun and begins her new journey as the Morning Star, appearing in the morning sky after January 14^th. 

 

 Venus 

I’m giving a free talk on Venus in Capricorn – I will be telling stories about some of the values that she brings to us. If you’re interested in listening, you can sign up at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtcu2trjIjG92nG-CfFr6mbjPtuPP_y4-P

May the peace and the love of the Goddess and the God be ever in our hearts, to guide us to ourselves so we can be a light to the world.

Blessings for this New Year,

Cathy

The Cosmic Story: Venus retrograde in Capricorn 2021 - 2022

 

The Cosmic Story: Venus in Capricorn

Venus Retrograde in Capricorn Begins a New Venus Star Point

 

(Venus Star Points)

The Queen of Heaven Births A New Earth

Gifting our Talents to the World

The Power of Venus

Alice Bailey, the esoteric astrologer, wrote that the planet and power of Venus will become dominant in the Aquarian Age. 

 

Aphrodite as Queen of Heaven

 

While this newsletter discusses the astrology of the planet Venus, I want to also talk about the archetypal Venus, who is more fully embodied as the Greek Aphrodite. This Aphrodite/Venus generates the power of love, of human sexuality, of beauty and most especially for women, the power of our embodied feminine wisdom. It is this energetic Venus who can teach us how to integrate our individuality with group responsibility.

“In the Aquarian Age the power of ...Venus becomes dominant….Venus was the planet which we are told was responsible for the appearance of individualized consciousness in humanity...In the Aquarian Age, Venus will again have an analogous influence...of an expanded consciousness of group responsibility. (Alice Bailey: Esoteric Astrology)

I love the Night Sky. There’s always something new going on up there.

I’ve looked to the stars since I was a child, laying on my back, searching for the Big Dipper and ‘arcing’ to the bright star Arcturus from its tail. I also looked for Venus as the wishing star that sometimes appeared as the first star to glow in the evening sky. Star light, Star Bright. First star I see tonight. But it wasn’t until I began to study astrology that I paid attention to how She moved through the night sky. 

 

The first time I really bonded with Venus in the night sky was early Christmas morning (one of the perks of getting up at night with a new baby!) in 1970, when I saw her shining light spread out over the Bay outside my in-laws home. I couldn’t believe it at first. I was looking at the Star of Bethlehem! The cone-shaped light radiating in the dark sky. Her light so bright, shining on the Bay like moonlight!

I didn’t know that Venus’ light is sometimes as strong as moonlight. And because I just couldn’t stop looking at this magical sight, I watched with even more awe as a deep red balsamic crescent Moon rose up just before sunrise and sent a red ray of light out over the waters to join Venus’ silvery ray. What a blessing and gift. And on Christmas morning! How cool is that!

Next time I really paid specific attention to Venus’ journey in the sky was in June of 2004, when she crossed the face of the Sun. It was the first time in over 100 years that her orbit took her there. I was up by dawn, down at the town beach, and watched her passage with a couple who lent me their binoculars. I got to see the tiny black dot that was Venus, crossing over the face of the Sun as it rose. I felt myself embodying that experience. I felt I was seeing an image of The Woman Clothed with the Sun, a birthing of the solar Feminine returning as women’s wisdom. 

 

 

Venus crossing the face of the Sun

 

That 100 + year cycle is interesting because the crossing repeats itself, the second time after Venus’ 8 year cycle completes. As in 2004, Venus crossed over the face of the Sun again in June, 2012. She won’t do it again for another 100 years. This second time I was in the desert with my tribe and we watched it on the side of a building with a homemade viewer.

Venus began her latest 8 year cycle in June, 2020 as a (Gemini) Morning Star, then transformed into an (Aries) Evening Star in May 2021 and will once again become a (Capricorn) Morning Star in January 2022. This upcoming Venus retrograde starts on December 19, 2021 at 27* Capricorn and ends on January 29, 2022 at 12* Capricorn. Venus conjuncts the Sun on January 8, 2022, beginning the new Venus Capricorn star point at 19* Capricorn.

The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 27* Capricorn is: Pilgrims climbing the steep steps leading to a mountain shrine. Venus wants us to aspire to a higher vision, one that includes the Future.

 

 

How many of us go on pilgrimage?

The Sabian symbol for Venus conjunct the Sun at 19* Capricorn is: A five year old child carrying a bag filled with groceries. This symbol asks us to assume social responsibilities that might seem too overwhelming for us. But they aren’t! 

 

Venus Conjunct the Sun at 19* Capricorn

 

The Sabian symbol for Venus turning direct at 12* Capricorn is: An illustrated lecture on natural science reveals little known aspects of life. Here Venus activates our ability to explore unfamiliar realms and explore the laws of Nature.

This whole series of Sabian symbols suggest that it’s time for our soul’s initiation into a deeper connection between Love and Desire, and a more grown-up, responsible attitude to life. It’s time to stop acting like we’re all teenagers without any responsibility for the conditions of life in our world.

The most important aspects Venus makes on this re-birth journey is to Pluto, the Sun, and Mars in Capricorn and to Eris in Aries. As Venus moves through Capricorn, She squares Eris, strengthening our will to follow our hearts and to be fierce defenders of our heart’s needs.

When Venus conjuncts Pluto, She invites us to re-define and re-design systems and structures that shape and condition our collective lives, honoring Earth’s wisdom and Nature’s organic systems. Since Uranus is in Venus’ sign of Taurus now, it’s important that we learn from Mother Earth’s creative genius as we restructure our global society to make it more sustainable, creative and free.

 

When Venus joins forces with Pluto, our values evolve, our heart space deepens and we see clearly who we are.  It is also a time to take back our own authority (Capricorn is all about authority!) and power as women.  So this next year is a time for us to exercise our personal authority instead of giving into the collective authority of patriarchy.

Venus conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn on December 11^th, and then for a second time when She’s retrograde on December 25^th, and a third and final time when direct again on March 3, 2022, this time joined by Mars. Venus and then Mars conjunct Pluto at 28* Capricorn – the degree of the U.S. Pluto in the 4^th of July birth chart. (So Americans will be feeling this grand conjunction big-time!) With Pluto connected to the Venus/Mars conjunction at 1* Aquarius on March 5-6, it feels like there’s a possibility for a deep psychic re-balancing of masculine and feminine energies within each of us and within the American psyche. Whatever happens, this is sure to be a deeply transformative Venus Cycle!

I love the Sabian symbol for the first two Venus/Pluto conjunctions at 26* Capricorn: A nature spirit dancing in the iridescent mist of a waterfall. Nature is alive with spirit and creativity. We all need to go dance!

 

 

With the solar transits of 2004 and 2012 , Venus announced her presence to the 21^st Century. If Alice Bailey is correct, then I hope Her presence grows in the coming years, both in the heavens and here on Earth. It would mean that Venus/Aphrodite can help us heal the divisions in our world, since Aphrodite’s power is to bring together ‘disparate’ things into a new wholeness. When we consciously acknowledge Her light and embody her wisdom, we help birth the Aquarian Age.

The Venus Cycle

In the past decade, astrologers have turned their attention to and written books about the Venus’ cycle (I’ll post at end of newsletter). Simply put, we can say there are 4 stages to her journey, involving both the Morning Star and Evening Star phase. Venus’ orbit also creates a 5-pointed star – a pentagram – in the sky, which repeats itself every 8 years. Below is a drawing of the energy lines the Venus cycle creates over a period of time. A cosmic rose!

This is the pattern Venus' orbit traces over 100s of years

 

How the 4-fold Venus cycle works:

Because Venus is closer to the Sun than we are, She doesn’t get very far away from it, from Earth’s point of view. Our orbits cause Venus to shift from Morning to Evening Star. To do this, She disappears two times as she joins up with the Sun.

When Venus retrogrades every 19 months, she passes between Earth and the Sun, transitioning from being an Evening Star to her new appearance as a Morning Star.

Nine months later, when her Morning Star phase is over, she is furthest from Earth and disappears behind the Sun for 50 days to later rise as an Evening Star.

During these next few weeks, Evening Star Venus will disappear from the western night sky into the Sun’s light on January 3, 2022. After 11 days, Venus will reappear out of the Sun’s glare as the Morning Star on January 14^th. 

 

For another in-depth look at this cycle, I recommend Melanie Reinhart’s newsletter. https://melaniereinhart.com/melanie/VenusRXCapricorn2.htm

While Melanie references the Sumerian myth of Inanna, I am going to look at another myth to expand on this Venus cycle.

Venus Retrograde and the Capricorn Reset

As astrologers, we look to Venus to symbolize relationships, love, money, value and self-worth. When Venus retrogrades, we take time to re-evaluate those things we value and our own worth. Venus elevates the feminine values of love, peace, cooperation, beauty, compassion, the Arts and community.

But of course, Venus, as planet and as Goddess, is so much more than those words can convey. Venus/Aphrodite is an archetypal energy that creates its own world-view. Each archetype or planet “...comprises a totality, a whole world with its preferences, each filling it with desires to fill, shape and illumine the world of human existence with its own spirit.” (Walter Otto)

 

 The Birth of Venus

 

The ancients gave their gods and goddesses forms that human could relate to, perhaps because the real message was, and is, ‘The goddesses and gods are within you.’ In working with Venus, we have to allow her to ‘live within us’ and teach us to know how to engage in relationships, how to show our love to others and to ourselves, how to find our self-worth through our talents, and to discern what’s really of value to us and how valuable we are to the world.

Embodying an archetypal energy fills us with a more meaningful life, one that has a different vision and goal from our collective vision of life. When we speak about the planet Venus in astrology, we’re talking about just such an archetypal energy, one that elevates us to a new, clearer vision of ourselves and each other. Walking in the world of Venus’ wise love and connection enables us to see the divine in each other and within ourselves. What a great lesson we’ve been given to learn.

 

 

Susan Seddon Boulet

 

Psyche's 4th task: The Underworld casket of Beauty

The myth I associate with Venus when She disappears from our skies is the Myth of Psyche and Eros. In this ancient myth, Psyche (Soul) marries Eros (divine desire), who was originally a primal god in early Greece (before patriarchy reduced him to a mischievous boy). But the marriage is unconscious until Psyche goes to Aphrodite and is initiated into higher consciousness by four tests of insight, trust, faith and courage that includes a journey to the Underworld to reclaim its beauty. When Psyche and Eros are reunited, they give birth to a daughter, Bliss.

At this moment in our history, perhaps we need to be initiated into the true meaning of Love.  Can we unite our soul with our divine desire?  Can we let Love open our eyes to each other so we can see in its light, without hate or rancor. Love is supposed to be a bridge between people, just as Venus and her associated metal, copper, are connectors. They connect disparate things, uniting them to work together.

Venus/Aphrodite brings together and reconciles what is ordinarily kept apart, not through fusion into one thing, but by valuing both sides. She bears the tension of opposites until a third, transcendent route appears. This is how She initiates a transformative consciousness in humanity.

Let's look at how this Love energy would manifest when Venus occupies Saturn-ruled Capricorn, a zodiac sign we usually associate with patriarchy (the rule of the fathers) and our society’s structures. Because of her retrograde, Venus is in the sign of Capricorn from November 5, 2021 until March 6, 2022 – 4 months. Venus usually moves through a sign in about 3 weeks! So Venus really wants us to bring this world-view of Love into society and into our governing institutions.

Older astrology texts suggest that Venus in Capricorn is loyal, serious and practical, a little shy but needing to love and care for their people. With this retrograde, it’s time to change the way we think about Venus there.

Another way to look at Venus/Aphrodite in Capricorn is to see how we can bring the Venus world-view of connection and love to our collective lives. Some astrologers are talking about Capricorn being ‘the council of Grandmothers’, a perspective of making responsible choices for the good of the whole. 

 

 

 

Before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin and other founding fathers went to learn about the Iroquois Confederacy, a group of six Native American tribes who had banded together to live in peace and equality, created by their union’s power. These tribes were rules by a Council of Grandmothers – those women past child-bearing age (our Crones!) who became Clan Mothers. While there was a power balance between women and men, the wisdom of the Mothers was acknowledge and these councils would select the chief (and they could get rid of him if he wasn’t doing a good job!), and rule on whether or not to go to war.

Perhaps this powerful Venus retrograde and Capricorn Star Point will usher in a time when grandmothers will step forward and bring their gifts and wisdom to their communities once again. We have to ask ourselves, What values are important for the future? What can we do now to support the future? That’s what Grandparents do – they can help shape the future because of their experience and wisdom. I personally wish that we could gather all our most wise Elders and ask them to take over governing us until we achieve a ‘more perfect union.’

Working with Venus’ archetypal energy

How can we work with this Venus retrograde energy? First, slow down and pay attention to what this energy feels like. Who do you want to connect to? What do you want to be doing? How are you nurturing yourself? What talents do you have that you want to share with a larger community? Where is Capricorn in your birth chart? Where is your natal Venus? They can give you clues about what you need to sit with.

The energy of Venus/Aphrodite isn’t just about personal relationships between partners, family and friends though. Venus’ energy is involved with what makes civilization worthwhile. The engagement of citizens in government, in education, in the arts, in the sciences, in commerce, in the healing arts and in all forms of exchange. Venus is connected to any form of interaction that brings beings and ideas together.

 

Aphrodite & the 9 Muses

 

In Capricorn, Venus connects us to our society, to our community and in fact, to anything we’re passionate about that we want to share with others. Venus/

Aphrodite is the goddess connected with the 9 Muses, those mythic figures that inspire human art, knowledge, science, music, dance, storytelling, poetry, healing and beauty. Venus in Capricorn asks us to look at our talents and our values and share them with society as a whole.

Venus was the goddess of the multi-talented courtesans down through the ages, those women who were strong enough to be the equal to, and often the seductresses of, powerful men. Women who embodied the creativity and sexuality of Venus, whose world-view and intelligence encompassed beauty, sexual freedom, art, creativity, embodied wisdom, and a broad understanding of the ways of the world. Courtesans set the tone for culture, art, beauty and fashion. *

Venus and women have been used by men for their own pleasures and as the dark shadow of their own desires. So often, Venus has had to hide behind a mask of compliance and obedience, but she always looks for her freedom to reclaim her own nature. She renews her virginity after she makes love, surrendering to her partner sexually but returning to herself and her own needs each time after.

Venus’ archetypal energy embodies our ability to create life and nurture it, as well as our role as the water of life (all the hero stories point to the fact that the men wanted to claim their feminine nature). As Joseph Campbell said, women don’t need to go on the hero’s journey because we already have what the male journey seeks – a connection to our souls, to our unique feminine purpose as queen of heaven and earth. 

 

 The Grail Castle ~ Edward Burne-Jones

 

Venus connects us to our power spots, the landscapes that refresh our souls. She guides us to take care of ourselves – to love ourselves enough to go out into nature to regenerate our spirits when our 3D reality gets us down. Her sacred space was a Garden of delight, and is still anywhere in nature that brings us spontaneous joy and freedom.

When Venus goes retrograde, She is closest to Earth and so we can integrate her energies more easily.  Venus’ journey through the heavens as 2022 begins can enrich us with love and a connection to Heaven, Earth and Pluto's Underworld. Will we make ourselves available to embody her Truth and her Wisdom?

We’ve been waiting to change the world but first we had to change ourselves. NOW is the time, though, when we have to go out into our communities with our art, our talents, our passion and purpose. We are here to create the future and so we have to take the long view of things. We might even have to sacrifice some of our comforts to create a better world. To do this, we have to live our new story. What will you do?

Bright Blessings at this Dark time of year.

Cathy

Check out Charles Eisenstein’s little allegory about how we are here to midwife the conscious evolution of Earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XinVOpdcbVc

 

Books:

* Wisdom’s Daughters: How Women Can Change the World Cathy Pagano (describes the return of the Divine Feminine as Wisdom, as well as diving into the stories of Aphrodite as the embodiment of Feminine Wisdom).

Adam Gainsburg, TheLight of Venus (describes a more complex Venus cycle than the 4 points I mentioned).

Arielle Guttman, Venus Star Rising (describes the Venus Star Points – those times when Venus transitions to either a Morning Star or an Evening Star)

Liz Greene, Relating: An astrological guide to living with others on a small planet. (My first deep dive into Jungian astrological wisdom. Highly recommended for a psychological explanation of aspects of astrology.)