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m
i l e s a p a r t The
last Venus retrogrades that took place All information quoted is from Erin Sullivan's book Retrograde Planets |
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Recap ALSO
VISIT: Also see ANIMA MEETS ANIMUS AND VENUS TRANSIT
The Goddess Venus or Aphrodite as she was called by the Greeks has two aspects, Aphrodite Urania -- meaning celestial or heavenly -- her father's child; and Aphrodite Pandemos -- of the common people -- her mother's child. (Sky = god and earth = goddess). Both aspects of Venus need to be propitiated. The revenge of Aphrodite is a cruel fate, as demonstrated over and over again in myth. Among other things, Venus drove people insane if they iugnored her.
The distinction between sacred and profane love is one of the most potent archetypes in the history of western civilization and plays a tremendous role in the development of inner harmony in individual psychology. Here is a beautiful work of art depicting one aspect of the phenomenon. It is called "The Cloister or the World".
This is a theme that is often revisited during a Venus retrograde transit, especially as it relates to the individuation process some men go through with their anima. If they are ready to spiritualize their love, they may not be able to do this with the woman they are presently involved with.
The astrological Venus rules over two signs, Taurus and Libra. The Taurean Venus can be likened to the earthy, sensual Pandemos and the Libran Venus to Urania: refined, idealized, cerebral and wholly socialized. The sensual and primitive function of Taurus is innate and holds memories of the womb, the tactile, visceral and sensate aspects of our nature which trigger our instinctual responses to stimuli in 'gut reactions' and 'feelings' about sensory perceptions.
The Libran Uranian (not associated with the planet Uranus in astrology in this instance but with an earlier goddess) reaction to instinctual response is invariably overlaid with socially acquired concerns about morality, social acceptability, politeness or properness. That is, Urania slips in to judge whether these automatic responses of the body are 'nice' or not. In some cases, the animal instinct may be ignored. The Libran side of Venus, being refined and socially inclined, and having the intellectual qualities of air and reason, is our attempt to distance ourselves from the physical and instinctual demands of the body. This natural ambivalence can produce feelings of guilt or "I can't win for losing", or it can split, resulting in dichotomies and frozen or polarized 'Venus complexes" such as the Madonna/Whore complex in men or women.
During this retrograde you might consider playing a different role to learn how to see things from the other perspective. Or your partner might! Ideally, Urania and Pandemos might be incorporated and integrated, deepening and enriching not only our instinctual values but enhancing both our personal and social relationships, ultimately offering the most creative resolution. The dip into the unconscious when Venus is retrograde can issue forth a mandate for war -- on the senses, on attitudes to love and on old dead values.
The
dip into the unconscious when Venus is retrograde can issue forth
a mandate for war -- on the senses, on attitudes to love and on
old dead values.
We also know that the dark side of passionate and romantic love can engender its opposite: hatred of the once loved object if it is removed or appears to change form. Therapeutic 'talking' about certain aspects of our Venus nature is quite pointless as our visceral likes and dislikes were formed long before we began to talk and there is nothing rational about them. Venus unerringly and instinctively seeks out suitable vestments which enhance (or downplay) our self-image, whether they be our lovers, the people we surround ourselves with, the environment in which we live, or the style, music, art and culture which stimulate our higher, Libran aesthetics. In this regard, take a look at what sign your Venus is in. Here are some guidelines as to how the self image is enhanced in relating and love making in each of the signs :
Venus in the sky is the Morning and the Evening Star. The Mesoamericans in the El Tajin panels (above) depict Venus as the Evening Star (in her station retrograde place) . It is during this phase that Venus, according to Aztec mythology, takes the form of a man and walks the earth. Here he meets the goddess Xochiquetzal, goddess of love, who abets him in breaking his vows of purity. In the next panel ... Venus spends the night with music, drinking and love -- and he couples with the goddess. There appears to be a product of this coupling, the birth of a sky monster. In the third panel ... [inferior conjunction] the ball game is played in the underworld. Venus loses and s/he must be sacrificed by the Sun. In the fourth panel, which covers the span from Evening Star through inferior conjunction, and on to Morning Star [heliacal rising] Venus is sacrificed. The death of Venus occurs while the planet is obscured by the Sun but ultimately Venus is reborn as Morning Star [and female]. [information from Bruce Scofield] The Aztecs incorporated this myth into their culture as follows: Ritual ball-game peylota [spelling varies] played by opposing teams during the eight days of consummation and death of male Venus at inferior conjunction; the instigation of war accompanied by human blood sacrifice at heliacal rising; subsequent fertility rites. The Mayan people were also highly sophisticated about Venus' motion and cycles, devising a 186-day calendar with fasti or feast days. Venus was a central figure and, depicted as the goddess of war, armies were mobilized when she was in her station about to turn direct. The imagery around her is grisly and violent.
ANAT: SUMERIAN VERSION Goddes of Love and War
It was said she rose up from the underworld still sticky with the blood and bones of the dead after her forty-day journey in the arms of the Sun. Original painting by Nancy R. Fenn. To visit my website with more goddesses, click here.
Call 619-255-6117 if you have any questions.
Erin
Sullivan explains that the quinary of 5 pattern of Venus symbolizes
material understanding of arcane or esoteric truths and is symbolic
of the whole of the material world.
Why Cycle of 5? It so happens that 5 cycles of Venus is very close to 8 Earth years, and so inferior conjunctions occur very close to the place where they occurred eight years before (within two degrees). That is what describes the pentagram pattern. This has meaning conceptually in the harmonics of Venus but has little relevence to the person who just wants to know what will happen to them during the next retrograde. Erin Sullivan explains that the quinary of 5 pattern of Venus symbolizes material understanding of arcane or esoteric truths and is symbolic of the whole of the material world. It may be why much rumination over love, values, creative issue and diplomacy occurs both globally and individually when Venus stations, turns retrograde and remains so for forty days, communing with the immutable forces which guard the mysterious knowledge. The knowledge that Venus imparts upon its return to the upper world is not the information that Mercury brings to the surface with each of its cycles. It is an aesthetic, visceral knowing, which cannot be articulated but can only be enacted or portrayed through the subtlety of relationships with others or in abstract imagery. One gets a cold hard look at one's relationships and at what is relevant to one's integrity at this time. It may be that there is an imbalance for a period while deeply mysterious transformation occurs -- so mysterious that one never really knows what has happened until several months have passed. After Venus has turned direct and begins to move along at about the same speed as the Sun (in the ephemeris), stasis initiates a time to review what the retrograde period revealed.
HOW TO PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN To a certain extent, you can predict yourself what your transit will be like. Here's how.
The best way to predict the personal effects of this transit will be to return to your calendar from eight years ago and see what kinds of things were going on in your life. I do recommend that my clients keeps personal calendars. If you're not the type that journals, and I'm not, so I understand, all that's required is a notation by certain dates, such as "decided I would definitely quit smoking" or "they arrested my boss today!" or "lost my portfolio in the junk bond scandal" or "subpoened to testify against boss today" or "met Roderick, the love of my life".
Meanings of the transit:
A Venus retrograde transit is usually pretty difficult one and it is also difficult to put into words. During these retrogrades you will be asked to get in touch with your visceral feelings about yourself and others and to reexamine your values.
I do this all the time, you think.
Well. there's a catch. You won't be able to use your mind to do this. You have to use your gut.
Your experience will be visceral. It's in your gut. Either you like it or you don't. That's the end of it.
Ever see a baby's face when you introduce a new food that isn't going over very well?
It's in your body. Sitting next to that guy over there made your skin crawl. So you moved over next to this person who bombards you with alpha waves.
Think body intelligence: skin crawl, butterflies in your stomach, frog in your throat, bitter taste in your mouth, knot in your stomach, tongue-tied, stone cold, pants on fire, wet behind the ears, cold feet, etc. Body intelligence is great. But all things in balance. If you normally split off from your head too much, and gather most of your information through your gut, your ideals may come to the party uninvited and, like that darn godmother-fairy you forget to put on the invitation list, cause a great deal of havoc.
WEB PAGES ON BODY LANGUAGE A PLUS Brush up on your body's language. It's full of intelligence and it's communicating for you all the time. Click here.
Especially important for Venus retrograde transits will be Body Language in Love.
Your ideals may suddenly bust into your comfort zone and get in the way of your most cherished relationships.
The result. You may suddenly find fault with a relationship that is nurturing, comforting and really perfectly wonderful most of the time. Reminds me of one of my favorite myths. It goes something like this. Zeus and Hera were arguing over who had more pleasure during sex, men or women. They decided to consult the blind seer Tieresias (get it?) who had once been a woman. Tieresias, who had once been a woman, came upon two snakes mating. He killed one of them. It turned out they were deities and Tieresias' fate descended upon him. He was blinded for this transgression. You can see that we are treading on treacherous waters here.
Do men or women experience more pleasure in sex? Tieresias said it was _______ (email me and I'll tell you whether it was men or women).
The
Mesoamericans have a myth that Venus (whom they identified very
early as the Morning and the Evening Star) was an Underworld Goddess
who became a man and walked the earth when Venus went retrograde
in the skies.
The following is taken from Erin Sullivan, author of Retrograde Planets: The degree of discord that arises within one's personal life during the retrogression signals the distance that one is from one's core values and higher creative inspirations.
The sudden imbalance can tilt one towards an opposing pole, creating tremendous upheavals in relationships and in one's personal experiences.
The mysterious 'ideal' can interrupt and tear apart what one has found to be loving and nurturing -- flaws and faults in others can become enhanced, and one might see all the dangers of intimacy rather than the supportive aspects of it.
The call to war after the inferior conjunction of Venus with the Sun might bring forth the dead and one may be recalled to times in the past when rejection and emotional pain conspired to erect an emotional fortress which for current circumstances might be quite inappropriate.
This and other excerpts are taken from Erin Sullivan's Retrograde Planets (Traversing the Inner Landscape).
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More
Resources:
Watching
the Venus Eclipse June 2004
Diagrams
of Venus Retrograde
Influenza 1918, a
Venus Connection
Upcoming Venus
Inferior Conjunctions
Venus Inferior
Conjunctions and Biological Events
Khaldea Resources
on Venus
Possible
connection between
Venus Inferior Conjunctions and Pandemics
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Influenza
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Venus
Inferior Conjunctions
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Dates
of Onsets
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Intervals
in Days
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1918
Spanish
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February
9, 1918
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March
8, 1918
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28
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1957
Asian
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June
21, 1956
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January
15, 1957
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210
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1968
Hong Kong
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August
29, 1967
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October
30, 1967
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61
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1976
Swine
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August
27, 1975
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February
5, 1976
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131
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1977
Russian
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April
6, 1977
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May
15, 1977
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40
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1997
Avian
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June
11, 1996
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November
15, 1996
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150
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The
Spanish influenza epidemic in 1918 was one of the worst phenomena in history
More than 6,000,000 died, more than in World War II.
this page wa last touched 9.11.2007
