Morning Star Venus, November 1, 2018

Morning Star Venus, 2018

If you haven't noticed, this Venus retrograde has been intense. Looking at the news, it's hard to imagine that America is a land of peace and prosperity, rather than a land of hatred and poverty. Looking around the world, right-wing fascism is on the rise. And even our electronics are starting up.

The world is in chaos, because we need to change. And quickly.

Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Libra can bring about that change if we're open to it. The planets Venus, Mars, Pluto and Saturn are all moving at the same latitude, called declination in astronomy and astrology. That makes them work together. The divine Feminine and Masculine, the energy of transformation and of foundation can help build a new world.

That is, if people wake up and stand up for their beliefs.

As Venus ends her Evening Star cycle, she has great wisdom to bestow. Listen for the wisdom you’ve gained this past cycle that began with Venus retrograde in Aries in 2017 as a Morning Star and her union with the Sun in Capricorn in 2018 when she became an Evening Star. The value of the Aries Venus cycle is to find your own identity, to follow your own path and purpose. When Venus became in Evening Star in Capricorn, she gave us steadiness and practicality, the ability to navigate through these troubling times without losing ourselves.

Now as Venus retrogrades in Scorpio and Libra, we have to be that new identity and let others see our truth. We have to surrender and let go of our old story; we have to shed our old skin. And then we have to open ourselves to others, and our people will gather. Love attracts and what is Venus other than the Great Attractor. Venus is the arbiter of what values are important to our life, our growth, our soul and our spirit. She sets up an experience we have to surrender to. And her gift to us is Love.

 

Before she rises as a Morning Star, Venus retrograde at 0*15' Scorpio opposes Uranus retrograde at 0*15' Taurus on October 31, 2018 at 1:45am PDT/4:45am EDT/9:45am GMT.    Happy Halloween!   Venus, the goddess of Love and Wisdom is reborn again from the potency of Uranus, the Sky god. This is a new birth for the divine feminine. What new wisdom will she bestow upon us? On November 6^th , election day for the U.S., at the balsamic phase of the Moon, the Moon and Venus rise in the sky together before the Sun.

When the Goddesses unite, change happens.

Venus teaches us to surrender to life, because she attracts life from the soul level, no matter what we consciously think. She is deep wisdom, our soul’s connection to the truth of life. Have enough of us reconnected with our depths to bring about outer change? Time will tell.

Venus in Scorpio is all about valuing our soul life, the things that matter to our hearts. We can’t be whole if we don’t include our soul’s life in the equation. That’s what Carl Jung meant when he said our neurosis is our soul’s suffering. We've been watching our cultural neurosis tear the world apart. Can we heal it before it's too late?

If society is a reflection of who we are as a people, then the truth is we are severely out of balance. Instead of pulling together to meet the challenges of our times we are pulling apart because our old paradigm is crumbling under our feet. This has happened before, you know. Many times in many places. Like the heroines and heroes of old, we find ourselves faced with a choice. Do we stand up and become an active part of our collective story? Or do we hide away, concerned only for our own welfare?

No matter how or what we do, we are all called to service and to love. We’re being asked by the Universe to stand up and become adults. We can change our world and begin her healing. We just have to stand up to the old dragons of fear and denial.

In these chaotic times, our values and priorities are changing regarding sex, money, power and death - Scorpio's domain. Especially regarding women and the feminine. How do we women regain our own way of doing in the world, rather than doing things in the approved masculine way? How do we get society to recognize that our emotional intelligence and our intuition is just as real as our rationality and facts?

We do it by standing up for our truth. Now is the time. And Morning Star Venus will help us, because she is the Warrior Queen of Heaven.

Venus retrograde is moving away from the Sun and she will rise before the Sun on November 1st. This is called her heliacal rising - the first time she appears in the morning sky ahead of the Sun. Always a propitious moment. 

 

Venus rises before the Sun in the sign of Libra, the Balance. We've been cut off from our center for a long time. Now is our chance to rebalance and find it again. Our identity is shifting from our collective identity to our soul’s identity, values and purpose. Our work is to be authentic.  In this chart, the Leo Moon opposes Mars in Aquarius. It's time to look within to see what needs to be renewed. To channel all things through beauty and artistic endeavors. To live from Love.

Scorpio enhances our psychic and telepathic abilities. These abilities help Venus do what she's good at, for she is a unifying force. She uses our electro-magnetic fields to bring us back to our hearts desire. In Libra, we look for equality and justice, to protect each other and to protect the Earth. With Chiron at 29* Pisces quincunx Venus 29* Libra, we'll need to stretch if we want to unite and yet have our boundaries.

In the end, we have to bring a real sense of who we are to each of our encounters. We can no longer hide our light. We need to 'be here now' as Baba Ram Dass once said. We have to learn to listen at the deepest levels and be a channel of peace and harmony with all our relations.

As our wise Libran bard John Lennon sang, "All you need is Love'.

The Cosmic Story: Taurus Full Moon 2018

The Cosmic Story: Taurus Full Moon 2018

The Pearl of Great Price

This Scorpio/Taurus Full Moon is all about the transformation of the Feminine. Both signs are considered feminine and receptive, and as they align with Venus retrograde at the end of her Wisdom aspect as the Evening Star, we get to evolve our understanding of the divine feminine energies. While Taurus, the Moon and Venus are all related to love, fertility, sexuality and connection – the essence of life – they are reflecting the Scorpio death energy. The divine feminine is grounded in the cycle of life – death – rebirth and so at this point in the year, we must learn to die to be reborn again.

Venus retrograde has to surrender all her ties as she does down into the underworld. Because she is moving from an Evening Star to a Morning Star, she holds Wisdom, the ancient knowing of combining masculine and feminine, heaven and earth. Yin and Yang. The art of completion. She reconciles opposites and creates harmony. She heals all misunderstandings, can transcend duality and brings about wholeness. 

Inanna & Ereshkigel 

But there’s always more to learn. And so she descends into the Underworld, shedding her layers like Inanna sheds her symbols of power as she descends to her sister Erishkegal. And there she dies to be born again.

The new energy she’ll bring back with her as she rises as a Morning Star will drive her concerns for true equality and freedom – for she ends her retrograde in the sign of Libra, the Scales. After the American Senate blatantly ignored a plea to look at the worst of white, male entitlement, I doubt women will be content to let things lie. This next phase of Venus’ journey will surely see more women working for equality and freedom than ever before.

This Full Moon reminds me of a square dance. Have you even gone square-dancing? (If you haven’t, you should try it – it’s fun!) In complicated patterns, 4 sets of partners face each other in a square and dance and change partners as the pattern shifts. 

Square Dancing 

That’s what the Grand Fixed Cross between Sun and Venus retrograde in Scorpio opposite Moon and Uranus Rx in Taurus squaring the Nodes in Aquarius and Leo feels like. With Venus ruling the Moon, the Sun ruling the North Node, Uranus ruling the South Node and the Moon exalted in Taurus, it’s hard to know where one energy leaves off and another begins. Oh, and let’s not forget the Caller – Saturn in Capricorn – who sets up the patterns and calls the changes. Saturn sextiles and trines this Full Moon.

The astrologer Alice Bailey said that Scorpio is the sign of major tests and spiritual initiations. The lower Scorpio who lives on an unconscious level is tested through sex, power, comfort and money. Her emotional battles are usually unconscious so she strikes out at others, being devious and manipulating by suggestion and innuendo. The Eagle of Scorpio is a bit more conscious, struggling with and tempted by her lower emotions – jealousy, anger, rage, obsession – but thinks about how she will react. Her major test seems to be power – over others or in business.

The third form of Scorpio is the Phoenix, who is consumed by the fires of transformation and is reborn within them. The Phoenix Scorpio works on transformation – surrendering all desires to pass through the cleansing fires to arise with new desires and new insights. The Phoenix contemplates the life-death-rebirth cycle of life, letting go of the need for retribution so she can release the emotional poisons stored up in the unconscious, poisons such as resentment, hostility, the fear of betrayal and the urge for revenge. Only then can she achieve the illumination she seeks.

In Scorpio, we master and transform inner habits and outer ego desire as we are tested about our heart’s desires. What do we really need to feel emotionally secure? The only way to to find the answer is to be open to grace and trust, which are gifts of Taurus. 

The Grail of the Moon

 

The Moon, the Mother of form and attachment, is exalted in Taurus, the sign of the body’s sensual pleasures as well as its alignment with the proper form of organic growth. Taurus is slow and steady because she knows how the form needs to grow and mature. The Phoenix Scorpio might want to exterminate all her shadow behaviors in one fell swoop, but like the legendary Hydra, as soon as we cut off one habit, 10 more form. Transformation takes time. Taurus can teach Scorpio the patience it needs to transform her shadow into gold. The secret is to surrender to the process. Evolution doesn’t happen overnight, although Scorpio would make it so.

This Taurus Moon is conjunct Uranus, not an easy placement for a Taurus Moon, who likes things just the way they are, thank you very much! With Uranus about to leave Taurus for a few more months of playing with our Aries’ identity, it’s going to crack open those old Taurus behavior patterns so our new Aries’ identity can shape new habits and new rules of engagement with others and with the Earth.

Did you know that Taurus is a very spiritual sign? We don’t give the Bull enough credit, thinking it’s only interested in the material world. But Taurus is the sign where the Spirit Incarnates in Matter. Taurus Moon can be very psychic. Back in Egypt, the Apis Bull of Taurus was associated with the gift of prophecy. Taurus Moon can be deeply devoted to Spirit, and is very often not only spiritually receptive but also artistically talented. Since Taurus rules our talents and what we value, as we refine our desire nature and leave behind outworn needs, we can put the tremendous energy behind this Taurus Moon into our self-worth rather than our monetary worth.

So with Uranus joining this Taurus Full Moon, watch for ways to break old patterns. You’ll be surprised to find that freedom is your new form of security.

At the same time, Uranus opposes Venus retrograde. In the Greek creation myth, Aphrodite arose from the ocean where the phallus of the sky god Ouranos fell. From the starry heavens, love arose in our collective unconscious. During this complex Full Moon and Venus retrograde, I believe we’ll see a real resurgence of Love. Not a love directed at a man or a woman, but love focused on the world. A greater love that will sacrifice old desires for future needs.

There is a beautiful gem that is associated with both the Moon and Venus/Aphrodite. It is the pearl. The pearl symbolizes the feminine power of the Moon, brought down to a size where it can become adornment for Venus. It represents the precious essence of the Moon's powers and properties. The pearl was thought to be the result of lightning penetrating the oyster. Therefore, it was regarded as the union of fire and water. 

 

Uranus - intuition-lighting-fire + sea-unconscious-movement-water = Aphrodite-pearl.

The 'flaming pearl', the union of fire and water, is the pearl of perfection in the East. As the Third Eye of Shiva and the Buddha, it represents the crystallization of light, and spiritual enlightenment and consciousness. The truth of the pearl is that it is the irritation of the sand that makes the oyster secrete a liquid that forms the pearl. The luminous beauty of the pearl is created through suffering (which is passion!). Our lunar nature is created by the daily struggles that force us to new levels of consciousness. 

Venus is at the very end of her cycle and will conjunct the Sun on Friday, October 26th.  This begins her new cycle at 4* Scorpio.  She'll stay hidden in the Sun's glow until she rises as the Morning Star of November 1st.  If you go out before dawn, you might see her glow before sunrise.   

This intense Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon squares the Lunar Nodes in Leo and Aquarius. We are nearing the end of this set of nodes, which goes from May 10, 2017 to November 7, 2018. The North Node in Leo/South Node in Aquarius offers us a chance to step into the spotlight with our creative self-expression (Leo) for the benefit of the group (Aquarius).

This is that square dance I was talking about. The four power signs concentrate energy, so sometimes we find it hard to move around the circle. You’re going to have to give up/sacrifice/ release old habits to move through these new patterns gracefully and successfully. We can’t dance the patterns alone, but we have to make sure we’re centered in ourselves so we can align with others.

Saturn is like the caller in a square dance, the one who names what steps to take and how to take them. So listen to Saturn in Capricorn’s demands to take responsibility for your own creations.

The Taurus/Scorpio Full Moon occurs on Wednesday October 24^th at 9:45 am PDT/ 12:45 pm EDT/ 7:45pm GMT. 

 

Along with the energies of the Grand Fix Cross, Mars in Aquarius, the old ruler of Scorpio, squares Mercury in Scorpio. Watch out about making rash decisions now. You might find yourself rushing into things before you have all the information you need., like a white knight riding to the rescue. But with Mercury in Scorpio, take time to dig out the truth. Watch out for Shadow issues.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 2* Scorpio is: From a broken bottle, traces of perfume still emanate. Perhaps this perfume is the essence of what you need to bring into the future as you discard the past.

The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 5* Scorpio is: A massive rocky shore unchanged by centuries of storms. Fundamental principles never change.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 2* Taurus is: An electrical storm brilliantly illuminates the skies. Here’s that Uranian flash of lightning. A transformative vision.

The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 1* Taurus is: A clear mountain stream flows through a rocky defile. The power of life itself, sustaining and refreshing us.

The Sabian symbol for the North Node at 2* Leo is: The School closed by an epidemic, children play together. One avenue closes while another opens.

The Sabian symbol for the South Node at 2* Aquarius: Unexpected thunderstorm brings relief to parched fields. Liberation from adverse conditions. Perhaps a cosmic visitation?

This dance is playing with cosmic energies. So enter the dance. Especially if you have planets at 0* – 5* of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.

The Sabian symbol for Saturn at 5* Capricorn: A Native American camp. A fierce war-dance begins. Watch and listen for this caller – he’s the Lord of the Dance. Be fierce but make sure your war dance is for the good of the tribe. Let it be centered in Love, a love that is willing to do what needs to be done. 

May Hecate Light Your Way in the Dark

On October 31^st and November 1^st, we celebrate Samhain, the Day of the Dead. Remember that as the veils between the worlds thin, it is easier to release what is dead, especially if we honor it. Whatever has come before has brought you to where you are now. There are no failures, only experiences. Find the meaning of those experiences and let the rest go peacefully to its grave.

           Samhain Blessings,

Cathy

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Blessed Be! oh Guardians

Blessed Be! loved ones and friends

Another year's upon us

As the wheel has turned again

We invite the ancestors one by one

To join us at our meal

We raise our cups in honor

And share memories with zeal

We share a harvest's bounty

And know deep in our hearts

The past must be cleansed away

For the future to start

The veil is at it's thinnest

We walk between the worlds

Diviners bring their instruments

And mysteries become unfurled

And now the witching hour is upon us once again

We share a blessed circle with our loved ones and our friends

Blessed Be to Guardians, To deities and more still

Blessed Be To You,

Let The Harvest Your Heart Fill

So Mote It Be!

- Rev. Brightrose Aradia

The Cosmic Story: Libra New Moon 2018

The Cosmic Story: Libra New Moon 2018

The Libra New Moon on October 8^th - 9^th sets the stage for a new garden – a community garden that feeds all of us. We are no longer alone in our undertakings and we’ve realized that we have to feed each other to achieve our goals. 

 

Libra knows the art of partnership, the need to relate and have an Other who gives us a new awareness of ourselves. Libra is an air sign, so it’s not about passion – save that for Scorpio! This Libra energy is all about living in ‘right relationship’ with each other and the world.

But love is always a part of our relationships, isn’t it? If love is our ability to connect, then it is present in some form in every one of our relationships. When we’re young, our loves begin with projection – the assumption that the Other has characteristics that, in reality, probably belong to us. Whether it’s love of our parents, our siblings, our friends, our first romantic loves, we often see those we love through the emotional glasses of our own needs and beliefs.

As we grow older, we expect other things from our romantic relationships – shared responsibility, emotional balance, help, acceptance, companionship. And hopefully, there’s still passionate sex involved! Even our disagreements provide energy and passion to the relationship. Opposition doesn’t really call for splitting apart; opposition calls for finding the correct fit, for holding the tension of opposites until the third option appears. Another opportunity for some great make-up sex!

When our partnerships aren’t romantic, we might find ourselves being more courteous, respectful and open to other ways of seeing the world because we feel more objective towards them – not so vulnerable to their emotional demands. We try to love them, seeing the divine spark within them. We learn collaboration and diplomacy from Libra’s partnership energy, knowing that the more perspectives we have on an issue, the more likely we’ll discover the truth of the matter.

So how can we start our community gardens? How do we share ourselves and our gifts with others in our lives?

This summer, my small apartment got inundated by many, many boxes of books that I love and value, finally out of storage after 10 years. And I’m happily re-acquainting myself with them. Many I have to let go of for lack of space (so it you live in Rhode Island, come and get some!). But the important ones, my mentors, I’m keeping. I figure I can re-read them all and be re-inspired. 

Part of my library

 

I also keep thinking of ways to share these treasures with my friends. A lending library? A book club? A bookstore/coffeehouse? And then I remember the Sabian symbol for my Cancer Moon is ‘a beautiful old library that is shared with friends’. I love the synchronicity! I get to share not only my own knowledge, but the vast knowledge of all these teachers.

I stop by the bookshelves every day and when a book catches my eye, I open it (as many of us do). I pulled out an old book from the 80’s I loved and now with the internet, I found this beautiful teacher online. She is Dhyani Ywahoo, a Cherokee Wise Woman and Buddhist Elder, who runs Sunray Meditation Center and Sunray Peace Village.

Nine Precepts in the Code of Right Relationship

1. Speak only words of truth.
2. Speak only of the good qualities of others.
3. Be a confidant and carry no tales.
4. Turn aside the veil of anger to release the beauty inherent in all.
5. Waste not the bounty, and want not.
6. Honor the light in all. Compare nothing; see all for its suchness.
7. Respect all life; cut away the ignorance from one’s own heart.
8. Neither kill nor harbor thoughts of an angry nature, which destroy peace like an arrow.
9. Do it now; if you see what needs doing, do it.

~Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors, pp 20-21~

Let’s remind ourselves daily of these qualities and walk with them so that we learn how to be in right relationship to the Earth and all her other children. That is the Libra blessing!

Another side of Libra is the need for justice, fairness and balance. We’ve seen this ideal upset by the American Senate, caring more for partisan politics than for truth and justice. But if we can’t stop Mr. Kavanaugh from being elected to the Supreme Court, we can deal with our own ‘inner Judge K’. This is the judgemental part of ourselves where our logical mind is split off from our emotional heart. This gives rise to having our emotions overwhelm logic or logic repress our emotions. We have to ask ourselves, where do we do that to ourselves and others? These weeds in our communal garden need to be rooted out.

Once again, I go back to my library. I find some interesting old mystery novels about a Chines Sherlock Holmes, Judge Dee, and find this quote. 

Judge Dee

 

This is the Confucian belief about judges.

Heaven created an immutable pattern for 10,000 ages,

Regulating sun and stars above, mountains and rivers below;

Thereafter the sages of old did model our sacred social order,

Taking Heavenly Justice as warp, and man-made Law as woof.

A wise and honest Judge is Heaven’s unerring instrument,

The people’s father and mother, both compassionate and stern;

In his court the oppressed obtain redress of all their wrongs,

No criminal there escapes, despite base fraud and guile.”

This is what a Judge is supposed to be. Let’s bring back this archetype.

It’s up to us to create the peace and balance, justice and beauty that Libra desires most.

Libra New Moon 2018

The Libra New Moon occurs on October 8^th at 8:47pm PDT/ 11:47pm EDT and on October 9^th at 4:47am GMT.

The Sabian symbol for both the Sun and Moon at 16* Libra is: After a storm a boat landing stands in need of reconstruction. This symbolizes the need to keep the links open between our ego-consciousness and the vast realm of the Collective Unconscious. The Collective Unconscious is stirring up a storm – the forgotten ones will no longer remain silent. We need to make sure we’re open to the revelations we get from the Unconscious Mind, for they can give us new ideas and perspectives on life. That’s why remembering your dreams are so important for a healthy balanced life.

We’ll be helped or hindered by an inconjunct to Neptune in Pisces to this New Moon, depending on how sturdy your ‘boat landing’ is. Neptune can inundate our psyches with images and feelings that belong to the greater Collective Unconscious, especially now with everything going on in our society. We need to make sure that the messages we’re receiving steady our ego while expanding it. We can be deluded and deceived and inflated by the archetype if we’re not rooted in our center.

If we stretch ourselves without losing our sense of Self, Neptune can provide us with the imaginative answer to our needs. Spirit is always standing by to help!

Psyche in the Underworld feeding Cerberus

~Edmund Dulac~

Libra’s ruling planet, Venus, just turned retrograde on October 5^th in Scorpio, beginning her descent into the Underworld, releasing her old forms, embracing her anger and rage over what is happening in the world and letting her death and rebirth as a Morning Star (around Samhain) signal a return to power of the Divine Feminine. You can read about the beauty of Venus’ cycle in the heavens in Part 1 of my series on this Venus retrograde.

The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 11* Scorpio is: A drowning man is being rescued. This symbol speaks to the depth of love for others, that you might lay down your own life to save someone in trouble. This speaks to our inter-relatedness and our responsibility to act for the sake of others. For women and children all over the world who have endured sexual harassment and rape, this is especially poignant as we watch the patriarchs (both men and women – the father’s daughters who stand for the masculine in all things) ignore our pain in their grasping to remain in power.

With Scorpio Venus trining Neptune in Pisces, we have a direct line of communication open between our own unconscious (Scorpio) and the Collective Unconscious (Pisces). This can help us sort through the intense feelings and images arising within us. We are not alone in our suffering and we will help each other survive. We are no longer alone with our pain.

Venus retrograde is challenging Mars in Aquarius, squaring each other on October 10^th, to stand up with her to fight injustice and inequality. This square can also overwhelm us with intense feelings of either love or hate for people in our lives, but we have to resolve these deep emotions within ourselves, as squares indicate inner issues. Scorpio’s energies help us deal with our Shadows, so work on your own darkness before pointing out the darkness in others.

Pluto in Capricorn challenges this Libra New Moon to open to our common humanity, urging us to stand together as we watch patriarchy try to make its last stand against the future. And it personally challenges each of us to look at our relationships and let go of the old collective expectations surrounding love and relationship which often keep us tied down to people and situations that no longer serve us. Open up to possibilities in all your relationships.

Libra loves beauty, harmony and intelligence that brings opposites together rather than pulling them apart. Seek the balance in yourself to bring balance and harmony to all your relationships.

Walk in Beauty!

Cathy

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Tiny Gods

Some gods say, the tiny ones
"I am not here in your vibrant, moist lips
That need to beach themselves upon
the golden shore of a
Naked body."

Some gods say, "I am not
the sacred yearning in the unrequited soul;
I am not the blushing cheek
Of every star and Planet--

I am not the applauding Chef
Of those precious sections that can distill
The whole mind into a perfect wincing jewel, if only
For a moment
Nor do I reside in every pile of sweet warm dung
Born of earth's
Gratuity."

Some gods say, the ones we need to hang,
"your mouth is not designed to know His,
Love was not born to consume
the luminous
realms."

Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.

~ Hafiz ~
(The Gift - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio/Libra 2018

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio/Libra 2018:

Awakening the Soul Through Love

Part 1

The heavens are always moving and changing and telling us stories about the energies of life and death, love and desire, responsibility and possibilities. Since ancient times we have projected our experiences of life onto the night skies, telling stories about the star-groups we call constellations and onto the planets as we all revolve around the Sun. And we do this because intuitively we know we are part of the awesome mystery that sets the stars shining and the planets spinning.

Once thought of as gods and goddesses, the planets have become symbols of the archetypal processes of life. The archetypes are the cosmic laws of life, giving structure to collective energies that we each individually incarnate and make our own. They are self-organizing principles, so we experience them even when we’re unconscious of it. When we work with these archetypal energies consciously our own transformation quickens and we understand the meaning of our experiences.

Then we get to use our Free Will, making choices from a deeper understanding of who we are and what we really want.

Collectively, we have been immersed in a story of cultural transformation for the past 60 years, and it has only intensified over the past six years. The crises of climate change, overpopulation and continual warfare, and the pain and suffering they create, have to be faced consciously and resolved so we can let go of the past and create a different future for our planet and our children.

That means each of us has the responsibility to open to that change. The planetary energies and their cycles can help us understand what we can do to change not only ourselves but the world. While all the planetary cycles effect us, there are two important planetary energies we must look at and transform, for they are very personal and relate to men and women, and to how we work with the energies of the masculine and the feminine. These two planets are Venus and Mars.

Botticelli's Aphrodite & Ares

This summer when Mars, the planet of action, assertion, will power and desire, went retrograde in Aquarius over the South Node of the Moon, we hoped for a realignment of our collective masculine attitudes and energies. We see in the news that the old masculine attitudes are still entrenched in the places of power, but with ‘regular’ people, there is a new masculine attitude arising in men and women that gives us the courage to defend life rather than dominate it. I believe it will win out. Evolution happens.

Now it’s Venus’ turn to re-evaluate her priorities. On Friday, October 5^th, the planet Venus turns retrograde in Scorpio. Planets appear to ‘turn retrograde’ when the Earth passes that planet’s orbit and from Earth’s perspective, the planet appears to go backwards in the sky. During a retrograde, that planet’s energy turns within and we engage those energies within ourselves rather than projecting them out onto others.

What are the energies we’ll be healing and renewing as Venus disappears from the evening sky to later reappear in the morning sky? Aphrodite, the Greek version of Venus, is the goddess of Love, Wisdom, Sexuality and Harmony. She shows us what we value and why. As the spirit of Love and Wisdom and the Body, she is really at the center of our being. Perhaps that’s why Aphrodite is the only other goddess besides the Virgin Mary to survive under patriarchy, pretty much intact despite her degradation by the patriarchs.

Astrologically, Venus is said to represent sex, self-worth, values, beauty, relationships, money, the sacred Feminine and the Arts. In the ancient world, she also symbolized war, especially in her Morning Star phase. Why does this love goddess also go to war? Because we fight for what we love, don’t we? The struggle, as well as the surrender, is part of the process of loving and valuing people and things. 

Aphrodite's Bath ~ William Blake Richmond 

As we work with this Venus retrograde energy, we can descend into the Underworld with Venus, where she (& we) can shed old skins and emerge renewed from her sacred bath. It is a time to reassess our values (ruled by Venus/Aphrodite) and let go of ideas, people and things that no longer serve what we value most. In the intense sign of Scorpio, you can be sure that women and the divine Feminine will persevere until we achieve equality and some justice for our wounding by patriarchy and its adherents. Venus will see to it. And she will challenge Mars to help her.

 

The Venus Cycle

The planet Venus and her unique 584 day cycle is getting much deserved attention in astrology these days. The beauty and elegance of her repeating 8-year cycles forming pentagrams in the sky speak to the order and unity of our cosmos. 

 

In Gnosticism, it is said that Sophia, the Wisdom of God, would not permit anyone to enter her Realm of Light unless they were in complete balance within themselves. And the sign of this balance was the pentagram/ pentangle. This endless 5-pointed star (you can draw it without a break in the line) is a symbol of the Divine Feminine energy of life, the energy of incarnation. Its five points hold the energy of the integration of the 5 elements: air, fire, water, earth and the quint-essence, spirit.

The association of the 5-pointed star with the Goddess is as ancient as those long ago astronomers/astrologers who studied the planets as they moved across the night sky. They saw this pentagram drawn upon the heavens, experiencing the truth of the Alchemical saying: As Above, so Below. As Within, so Without.

The Venus cycle was studied by ancient astronomers/astrologers (they were one and the same) from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt to the Maya in South America. There are many phases of the Venus cycle (see Adam Gainsburg’s The Light of Venus) but let’s keep it simple and stay with the four basic phases of the cycle.

Also see (http://www.astro.com/astrology/in_mrmvenus_e.htmhttp://www.astro.com/astrology/in_mrmvenus_e.htm) for a fuller explanation of the Venus cycle.

There’s the Morning Star phase, the superior/exterior conjunction to the Sun (when Venus is on the other side of the Sun furthest from Earth), the Evening Star phase and the inferior/interior conjunction to the Sun (when Venus is retrograde and closest to Earth). When Venus rises before the Sun as a Morning Star, she is called Venus Lucifer the Light-Bringer. In this phase, she is spontaneous and impulsive, ready to experience life on her own terms. Many ancient cultures saw this as a dangerous time and attributed warlike qualities to it. And perhaps it was for patriarchy. When Venus becomes an Evening Star, she is in her wisdom aspect and is called Venus Hesperus, which is a more mature, responsible expression of her nature. In general, Morning Star Venus is spontaneous as she searches for new values while Evening Star Venus integrates the meaning of those values and makes them part of our social expectations.

We’re about the enter this last/first phase as Venus disappears from the evening sky, turning retrograde for 40 days and coming closest to the Earth (interior/inferior meaning between Earth and the Sun) and getting lost in the rays of the Sun. She goes invisible and so we talk about Venus’ ‘descent into the Underworld’. Because Venus is close to the Earth, once she goes retrograde they pass each other rather quickly. Unlike the external superior conjunction that initiates the Evening Star phase, when Venus disappears from our skies for weeks, Venus reappears after about 10 days in the morning sky before the Sun.

While both of the Venus conjunctions to the Sun take us down to the Underworld/Innerworld, Venus is retrograde for only the inferior/interior conjunction. This is when the planet is closest to Earth; when our feelings are most involved. It is a time to reorient ourselves toward the future and reassess what is of most value to us. It is a time that initiates us into the deep feminine mysteries of life – the mysteries of death and rebirth – because we have to let go of someone or something we love that no longer serves us. And because we love them, it’s hard. But we have to let it die so it can be reborn on a higher level of consciousness; we get to realign our collective and personal relationship to the Divine Feminine’s continuing evolution, in both women and men.

The Divine Feminine has returned to us as many end-time stories have prophesied. We saw a sign of Her return when Venus transited across the face of the Sun in 2004 and again in 2012. This rare ‘conjunction’ of Venus and the Sun happens twice (within 8 years) every 105 – 122 years. This pass was especially potent since it occurred as our solar system finished a 26,000 year cycle in 2012 over the galactic center. 

Venus cycle over many years creates this!

 

I saw both these Venus transits and the beauty of it made a deep impression on those of us who saw it, and it definitely brought hope to my heart. It also reminded me of the true heroine of our Christian end-time story, The Book of Revelations. While many Christian fundamentalists like to point to this Book as a sign that we are entering the ‘end times’ (which we are as we leave behind the Piscean Age), they neglect to address the fact that the catalyst for real change is ‘a Woman clothed with the Sun, standing on the Moon, crowned by 12 stars, in labor giving birth to the Savior’. It is the Divine Feminine, who I believe comes to us now as Wisdom, who will birth this new age of ours. And it is women who are leading the way to a ‘new heaven and a new Earth’. Much to the dismay of these patriarchal fundamentalists.

The synchronicity of Venus’ upcoming retrograde in Scorpio, the sign dealing with sex, power, money, death and rebirth and the public spectacle of the Supreme Court hearings about possible sexual harassment by Brett Kavanaugh is hard to ignore. Venus turns retrograde on the day the FBI has to report back to the Senate on Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford’s (as well as others) accusations. There isn’t a woman I know who hasn’t been sexually harassed, abused or raped, just as this mighty goddess has also been denigrated by patriarchy and turned into the Scarlet Whore of Babylon. It is patriarchy which has turned sex into sin, pornography and violence. Aphrodite’s sexuality is sacred.

So as Venus descends into the Underworld for renewal, we will all be watching to see which side of the issue the power structure of the American government stands for. Have women’s rights progressed since 1991 when the Senate voted in another man accused of sexual harassment to the top court in our land? Astrologically, this time is different. But we’ll have to wait and see what our collective psyche has decided.

Will this be a defining moment not only for women’s equality but also for the need to accept the truth of other, more feminine ways of knowing? As Dr. Ford and many women know, when you’ve been attacked like this, the knowing stays with you, despite not remembering the facts. The return of the Divine Feminine demands more than the literal equality between men and women; it demands that we also recognize the validity of emotional intelligence and intuition alongside facts and rational reasoning. It’s interesting that during the Senate meeting it was the men who come across as over-emotional and ‘irrational’ as they fight to maintain their dominant position in our society. Their own feminine natures need renewing.

Sometimes we need something to help fire up our passion for change. With the help of the stories and myths of Venus/Aphrodite as well as those of the planet Venus, we can recognize, release, birth and integrate the new energies associated with this planet and this archetype.

I’ll be back to talk about this Venus retrograde through looking at the astrology of the retrograde as well as the myths associated with Venus, Aphrodite and the other ancient goddesses associated with the planet Venus.