Venus has been a bright, beautiful Evening Star for many months now, but because Earth’s orbit caught up with it on May 15th, Venus now appears to be getting lower in the sky as our Earth races ahead. Venus is retrograde (going back or within) and will soon disappear back into the rays of the sun for a fiery re-birth. After it visibly crosses the Sun’s face on June 5th, it will disappear again until it appears in the sky before sunrise on June 13th as the Morning Star.
Almost all ancient cultures associated this planet with their goddess of Love. The Evening Star is known as Vesper, the gentle wisdom star of evening. We know the Evening Star as the star of wishes and hopes (Star light, Star bright, first star I see tonight. . .). She was called Stella Maris, Star of the Sea, the light that guides us home. When Venus rises before the Sun, she is known as the Morning Star, Lucifer the Light-Bringer, who heralds the dawn of a new day. This Venus is a warrior goddess of Love, loving herself as well as others, and forging a new path for the Sun (consciousness). This is the aspect of Venus that awaits us on the other side of this rare Venus conjunction. It is a call to defend what we love by standing up for peace and compassion.
Because the planes of Earth, Venus and the Sun are aligned, we get to see this rare transit of Venus, which happens only four times every 243 years. The spacing between these planetary meetings is very uneven: first it takes 121½ years to happen, then 8 years, then 105½ years, then 8 years again. The last transit occurred in June 2004 and after this June's planetary dance, there won't be another meeting for 105 ½ years, in December 2117. Venus naturally has an eight year cycle, forming a pentagram during its cycle. This is the planet that ancient astronomers used to measure our cosmos. So Venus is the measure of our solar system.
I saw the last Venus’ transit on June 8, 2004 from a beach in Rhode Island, watching as the Sun rose golden over the water. I looked through binoculars at that black dot on the face of the Sun and saw Venus as planet, not star or dot. A whole world, a unique energy. Making me aware that she is closer to the creative fires, clothed with the Sun’s energy, visible to my eyes and soul in the light of day. This cosmic magic filled me with Venus’ very own gift – Love! You just get joyful and everything seems to go right.
If we lived in a society that looked to the heavens for meaning, June 5th’s second transit of Venus across the face of the Sun would rock the world as a sign of hope for the future. And there would be hope if enough people accept responsibility for letting Love lead the way. Imagine a world where Love was the basis for life’s decisions! Not an unconscious love, but Love as the awareness of our connection with everyone and everything, coming through our imagination and intuition. Love as a foundation for life’s choices and decisions based on a belief that what I do to another I do to myself. Love places us back in the cycle of Life, where we are one and whole.
That belief is the polar opposite of patriarchal thinking, which configures us as separate and imperfect. Every man for himself! Even though patriarchy has tried to suppress the more feminine right brain holistic view of life, women are often quite adept at operating out of both brains, basing their decisions on right brain connective love and using the left brain to make it so. It actually works quite well! This transit is attuned to our right brains, so ask your analytical left brain to stand down, open to your imagination and see what you discover.
Until next time,
Sweet Dreams