“What is agony of the spirit? To advance toward death without seizing hold of the Water of Life.” Rumi
We are in the midst of a pregnant moment. With all that is going on, both Above and Below, Venus winds down her current cycle and prepares for rebirth. The timing is Heaven-sent. Our collective spirit is in agony, but the Water of Life is just ahead.
We are each of us waking up in our own way. Our world is pressing against us from without, while our inner lives are weaving the dream-web of our future. We’re all evolving at the same time. This is a Unity Event. As we prepare to step across a threshold in December, and enter the Aquarian Age, we are having a collective experience, as well as a personal one. In the eyes of the Angels we are undergoing a sacred passage. And this is the point – to wake us up to the fact that humanity is one family that must cooperate to address what threatens our survival and learn how to co-create a sustainable world.
Some would consider what I just wrote a fairy tale. That’s because we don’t live in the same world. We come from different paradigms. A paradigm is only a point of view and there are so many ways to see this moment. The world I am choosing to evolve into is a one of peace and love, prosperity and happiness; a world in which we are learning how to live for the greatest good of All.
Our current paradigm is our prison. We believe that reality is “out there.” That we are the victims of that external, physical reality. But like the shadows on the walls of Plato’s Cave, our world is a reflection of what we believe. Currently we believe that we evolved from apes, that we must behave like animals and compete with one another for scarce resources. This is a paradigm of fear. Our books and films are filled with it. We fear our own savage nature. So we dress ourselves up and gather the symbols of success in this make-believe world and compete with each other for gold.
But it has become a soulless life. And without Soul we are disconnected from Source, from all that is Good, and Beautiful and True. So Venus has come to save the day. She carries the Love of the Divine. She is the bearer of Spirit to open our hearts, to expose us to truth, to beauty, to the wonder of being human.
This summer Venus will remain in Gemini. She will disappear from view as she joins the Sun. In the course of 8 years, Venus stations and retrogrades, once every 19 months or so, then conjuncts the Sun in five different signs. If we chart those points on a Zodiac circle, they form a five-pointed star – the Pentacle.
I am not well versed in Celtic lore, but the symbolism of the pentacle has evolved from its origins. We are free to interpret its significance for ourselves. While there is no consensus on the meaning of this geometric shape, there is no doubt that this alchemical symbol has power. And the fact that Venus stops to refresh herself at 5 pentacle points lends significance. It’s as if Venus is drawing the symbol for us across the sky. And every time she forms one of these points, she is bringing a new vibration of love into our lives. Her message becomes even clearer when we consider the house placement. I’m thinking of offering a Venus special – half hour readings to show you where her magic is happening in your life. If you are interested, contact me.
Venus has brightened our night sky all Spring and now she is headed toward the horizon and will disappear from view only to reappear in the early morning sky shortly afterward. If you have a clear view of the western horizon, look for her alongside the Crescent Moon on May 23. If you’re really lucky you can see Mercury up and to her left. This will be our last view of Venus conjunct the Moon until the Fall of 2021.
Venus changes her relationship with the Sun during what is called a Synodic Cycle. Beginning with her conjunction on June 3rd, the point at which she is closest to the Earth, when she is in her retrograde period, Venus moves from the evening to the morning sky. She will be behind the Sun turning direct and catching up by next March 26th. This conjunction with the Sun, called the Superior Conjunction, happens when Venus is on the far side of the Sun from our point of view. This point in her cycle is symbolically similar to the Moon at her full, although Venus is so far away her light is not its brightest. This YouTube video shows you the beautiful pattern Venus creates as she orbits.
Since May 13, when she turned retrograde, Venus has been in her waning phase. Just like the final quarter phase of the Moon, this is a time for integration. Look back over the last 18 months when Venus made her last star point in Scorpio. She was preparing our hearts for this time, bringing that Plutonian energy, stirring up shadow aspects of ourselves, old memories, heartaches waiting to be released.
Now is the time. That Scorpio depth cycle is coming to a close. We have this summer to heal our hearts so we may gather the courage to face what comes in the Fall. In September Mars will be on center stage, strutting through his own sign of Aries, turning retrograde and direct right into 2021. Campaign season will be dirty. Egos on display. Potential discord, aggressive attitudes, hostility, the climax of “Me First!” We need to come to that time with hearts filled with love and courage. It will be the home stretch of this year-long initiation.
What we can do now is let go of whatever is constricting our hearts. This will involve feeling, but don’t be afraid. The pain you might feel is not who you are. It isn’t even true. It’s the conclusion you drew about your experience that created the pain, but it is also the key to the karma you came to release. You don’t have to carry this burden forever. Venus brings permission to let it go. Don’t wait for it to come to you. Seek it out. Go into your inner world and face your feelings. The worst that can happen is you’ll cry. So cry. Cry all the way down to your toes. Wring the pain out of your heart and set it free so it may soar with the joy of rebirth. This is the purpose of the final phase of the Venus cycle – between now and June 3rd – to heal and replenish the broken heart.
Friday is the New Moon in Gemini. We’ll investigate the characteristics of this mutable air sign and round out the meaning of Venus spending four months here. She has a lot to teach us.
I want to credit Andrew Smith, Irish astrologer, for his in-depth understanding of Venus as Spirit Bearer. He opened my eyes to a whole new dimension. And I want to suggest an inspiring book to accompany your journey with Venus in Gemini: Beauty, by John O’Donahue, Irish mystic, monk and poet. I listened to this book last summer during my early morning beach walks and saw the world through fresh eyes. It will nourish your soul.
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