Today we embark on a journey that is distinctly 2012. On Tuesday, Venus stations retrograde in Gemini. The retrograde lasts six weeks, at the peak of which is the transit of Venus on June 5. Venus retrograde means that Venus is passing between the Earth and the Sun. This is an eclipse-like event — one of many that happen during the next three weeks. Think of it as Venus penetrating the Sun and infusing it with its feminine power, helping balance out our chaotic world in which both male and female energy are out of balance and out of alignment.
So much of the personal drama we experience in life surrounds the themes of sex, gender and sex roles. Consider the alienation between men and women; the competition within each of the sexes, and between them; the anger and illusions that people project onto one another with a pretext of sex or gender.
Consider all the issues so many people face that involve what you can think of as inner gender relations — homophobia, not knowing what to do about being bisexual, or not knowing how to handle yourself if you discover you belong to some unfamiliar sexual orientation that you’ve never heard of or that your parents or partner don’t approve of. I could keep going; the permutations on gender drama are as infinite as human diversity, but the topic is not so easy to talk about, mainly because it involves exposing things many still consider shameful.
Gemini is the most basic sign of dualism. It’s the first sign where a human being appears, and we get not just one, but two of them. Venus making its penetrating transit across the Sun is visible, and it suggests something obvious. Gemini is all about polarities; a retrograde planet suggests a kind of experiment or play within those polarities. I think we will be learning a lot about ourselves and our relationships during the next six weeks. Not only that — this looks like some kinky astrology, if you’re the type to experiment with non-ordinary forms of sex (including gender reversal role-play).
Two other key dates are Venus stationing direct on June 27, and Venus entering new territory (or leaving shadow phase) on July 31. However, to investigate this personally for yourself, I suggest you go back to this time of year in 2004 and remember what was going on in your life. [Here is a Planet Waves article about the 2004 transit.]
This week is the last one that the Sun is in Taurus. The Sun ingresses Gemini at 11:15 am EDT on Sunday, May 20. About eight hours later this is followed by an annular eclipse of the Sun (here is the Wikipedia page for that event). This event will be visible briefly in the Western United States. It’s related to a solar eclipse of May 10, 1994.
When the Sun is eclipsed in the first degree of a sign, that has a dramatic feeling; it’s the sense of something unusual beginning, and that is true. Two weeks after Sunday’s eclipse, there is the cluster of events that includes an eclipse of the Moon, an eclipse of Pluto by the Moon, and the transit of Venus. These events will pick up the pace of events, both culturally and in your personal life, and come with many unusual developments.
Yet no matter what those might be, I suggest you take the theme back to dualism, and in particular, of sexual polarity. If you use that as a kind of analytical platform, you will understand events much more clearly.
Ps (!) And thank you for giving me the opportunity to set this down in writing, here on the wonderful PW! xx
Thanks P.Sophia! Love reading what you have to say about bees, so knowledgable and wise. Lovely to have you on PW. Think you’re right – the bees are auspicious. I’ve been taking steps for a while now to get out of this shithole of a job I’m in (the job itself is really interesting – but the conditions and pay have got lousier and lousier over the last couple of years, and have completely conditioned my life), but after the last attack on Monday evening, something snapped, and now I’m more determined that ever to get out. And it may take time – but I know I’ll do it. The victim flag is going up in flames. Bless you dear PS.
Dear Huffy,
Great to hear from you and i loved your updates/comments. I do think it very auspicious the bees are coming to you. Especially the Queen! Humm… Very interesting especially considering the timing and tone of that woman you work with. The honeybee, or worker bees are male as you know yet expressing female role….they universally in the chain of things really are in the submissive role. The Queen bee is definately the ruler in masculine position. Still both in receptivity of ultimate giving in the inter-dependancy and changing roles.
The fertility, is with both and believe relative in this blog article and the steam of comments shared relating to us and our personal roles, worlds chaotic condition, and when contemplating our influence (give and take) positive and negative, on Mother earth.
Just want to say, loving this community of such open minds and intuitive thinkers! Thanks again Huffy for your insiration and everyone for making me feel so welcome.
Sent from my iPhone
Dear P.Sophia, I remember your words very well “I mentioned I was thinking about their (the bee’s) roles, masculine and feminine and true receptivity”. I couldn’t believe it when I read your post this morning. There’s an amazing synchronicity here, because I’ve had more bee happenings – and wanted to write about them here yesterday, but didn’t get round to it. Last Saturday I was sitting on my terrace, near aforementioned strawberry plant – when the bee appeared again. I expected her (I think) to go for the plant – but she just buzzed around me for a while and then buzzed off, I’m sure she came to say hello. She circled me like a friendly dog does. Then yesterday, I was inside my flat, working on my computer, when a bee came in and headed straight for me. But this was no mini drone bee – she was really big and I’m sure she was the queen bee (maybe it’s just delusions of grandeur!). I backed away nervously actually, cos she made such a bee-line for me! She then buzzed around my computer for a while before going off. Minutes after that I received an email from work, and the ongoing battle that had subsided with the woman I work for, started up again. The bee came in again shortly after that, started to head for me, then thought better of it and headed back outside. In all the years I’ve lived in this flat, a bee has NEVER come in. Plenty of wasps have – but never bees. I wonder what it was trying to communicate. I remembered Mystes words about the fact that it could be a health warning…
And just to conclude, you’re so right about bees dear P.Sophia. I read up a lot on them in these days – and the other wonderful thing about them is that when they take from the flowers, they also give – because of their pollination. In fact, this struck me so much, that maybe that’s the message for me – the symbiosis of life, the balance, the male and female, as you say. Thank you so much for this bee dialogue! Must fly now. xxxx
In 2004 I turned over several leaves: I left my birth state, going from cool, moist Washington to hot and dry Arizona, I also began my new career of teaching, and last but assuredly not least, I began a long period of self-reflection.
That last bit is really the biggest change of those three, and now I’m always wondering who I was back then. What is now within is different, more intuitive, more loving than what I once was. As Eric has said for many years, you must love yourself before you can love others. And so I live today…
2004 was definitely about dualities for me, having both beginnings/endings. was in the process of ending a long-term relationship and beginning one with myself, had the best sex ever with the man that year, and then no sex for my longest period ever afterward. i also keep feeling excited about the new, and then completely the opposite by the same old. So ready to move beyond this duality/polarity, seems the problem with it all these days. would rather find the balance between the extremes. perhaps i just need a new kind of pendulum.
I too have landmark moments in 2004 (at this time that year I was about to shoot my first feature film) That’s a time/year for relationship milestones too. The 8 years since have been a holding pattern at best.
My Gemini (eclipse) daughter turned 3 in 1994, and we were certainly still recovering from the ‘Northridge’ earthquake (on epicenter). Ah! I’m beginning to remember a lot of other stuff too. Thanks for the tip to consider these things, Eric.
Thank you for the Penis/Venus poem, Be!
Thank you for information and insight Eric, and for stories and comments everyone.
xo
Oh, dear. 2004 was good for me in many ways. I persisted in making many great strides toward making my life right and beginning the pursuit of my life goals and dreams. But it was also the time of a fateful decision between my ex and I. It was before we were married. I was living with his parents, and he was moving back in with them
After graduating college. The plan was supposed to be that we only stayed with them briefly,
Would get an apartment, make our engagement formal, and I would go back to school.
That became a huge mistake. He changed for the worse once living with his parents again.
They had very unrealistic expectations and attempted to drive him away from his career choice.
It was a constant struggle, and we both lived with them longer than we should have.
I worked doubly hard to pursue and defend my own goals while simultaneously pulling my ex out of the rut
His father kept putting him in. Everything changed at that point and not for the better.
This set the tone for our marriage and everything else after. I was always putting things on hold
In the hopes that it would get better and it never did. And now my problem in dealing with other people is finding a balance. As a sort of defense mechanism, when I feel like I’m being made to wait for others to make a decision,
I tend to push them away immediately and completely.
Clearly, this is my time to find some kind of middle ground between having no tolerance and not being a doormat. Trying to make loving choices without compromising self, in some sort of harmony.
Sorry I rambled so much about myself there. Just a lot of memories from 2004 that I had buried. Lots to watch out for and think about right now.
Eric: Thank you. You have succinctly and eloquently nailed what so many of us can feel up close and personal when you speak of the solar feminine and the flux of dualism and polarity. Thank you for giving us something to hold on to that will not hold us down.
Huffy, yes feeling a bit discombobulated as well over weekend and as so many of you mentioned 2004 was a major shift for me as well. Then and now over last week or so, seems like illusions being shattered left and right.
Eric, all, and Huffy in particular, please allow me to say, I think you were subconsciously onto something when / regarding the article, Moon occults Pluto, Transgression and Change, that was posted May 9, you so coincidentally brought the bees into the conversation blog. I don’t know if anyone recognized a metaphor, but for me, I mentioned I was thinking about their (the bee’s) roles, masculine and feminine and true receptivity.
In today’s article Eric writes, “Think of it as Venus ‘penetrating’ the Sun and infusing it with its feminine power, helping balance out our chaotic world in which both male and female energy are out of balance and out of alignment”.
Is this not the bees in their role? Looking to nature I believe is often a good clue. Are not the bee’s gender roles in their cross pollination work, completely Androgyny? From a balanced ecosystem perspective consider the many animals and insects that spread pollen that have disappeared from the land as it has been destroyed. The honey bee has taken over as the main pollinator of these flowers. Scientists believe that over the years bees have helped create the wild variety of flowers that exist today by spreading the pollen. The honey bee is the primary source of pollination for approximately one-quarter of all crops.
Perhaps they, (the bees) have it right, and Dualism is the key as Eric so instinct ly describes, creating the harmony of finding one’s balance here for us and our earth, I mean. Spreading the seeds and making the gift of honey could, if only then… happen so effortlessly.
PS
Balance in our chaotic world? How about this truly extraordinary story:
For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives.The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died March 7? Known for his unique ability to calm traumatized elephants, Anthony had become a legend. He is the author of three books, Babylon Ark, detailing his efforts to rescue the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the Iraqi war, the forthcoming The Last Rhinos, and his bestselling The Elephant Whisperer.
http://delightmakers.com/news-bleat/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-elephant-whisperer/
I have not read all the comments yet – will do it now.
But, thinking of 2004 and now… well, for me a major transition, and beginning of a very difficult period was 2002. The whole of 2002, culminating in November.
2004 was the crisis going on, with ups and downs, then another turning point was in 2006.
So I would say that ‘now’ is the resurrection and progress of what started in 2002 (and that – of course – started before), and had a very important event in 2006.
It’s all coming together – Eight years ago, summer of 2004, my husband and I left everything behind and moved from Southern California to South Central Alaska. What a journey! The trip began with the nastiest fight of our marriage to date, one that sent me into a tailspin and drove a wedge between us.
I believe 2004 began my journey of descent to the Goddess, as I literally traveled to the underworld (Alaska, land of extremes and great darkness)
Now, as we approach the conjunction of Venus with the Sun exactly on my birth date June 5th, I believe I am experiencing the ascent of the Goddess within.
I feel somewhat, at this 58th year of life, as though I am approaching the crossroads wherein the Maiden, Mother, and Crone will meet and integrate within me.
There is reconcilation in our marriage, a completion of that passage begun in 2004.
Thank you Planet Waves for providing a beacon in my dark night.
I love you all.
2004 was when I started doing astrology professionally; I am a Taurus (Venus rules) and Gemini rules my second house, so it fits. At the second conjunction many of the original visions and ideas are starting to congeal into reality-teaching classes, selling items, producing CDs, etc. Otherwise, per Venus traveling out-of-bounds anyhow am already experiencing many break-ups in relationships around me and/or people sparring unpleasantly with one another-as in blocking communication, refusing to talk honestly or take responsibility. Also another round of crises winding up in sickness, injury, or accidents.
be – thank you, thank you! My heart is lighter for that. And I love the rhythm of it. And to everyone else too: hugs. No matter what you’re going through.
2004 was a pivotal year for me. My first marriage was in crisis; I was drowning myself in weed and PC games – anything to escape. I was about two months from a breakdown that was my salvation because it kicked me in the arse enough to start taking steps to sort myself out both mentally and physically (emotionally came later). It was six months before the arrival of the man who showed me what I had been denying in myself, and I could feel his presence, undeniable, even then. There was an inevitability about it. He came to stay at our house on holiday those six months later.
A week after that, my father died unexpectedly, which sparked a chain reaction that led to a huge numinous event that shook everything in my life and cracked it all open. I separated then divorced, I resigned from my writing job, sold the marital house, got rid of all of my possessions save for a suitcase full, moved country, enrolled on a spiritual “life education” programme, shifted career tack. So much — so much went on. And I can still feel the reverberations today, and I am still in a process of shift from that time with everything that came — and continues to come — to light.
Lyd, I was just about to write the very same thing!
Be, LOVE IT! Such talented people who write, read, and contribute in so many ways to the PW blog.
BE: blessed we are to have you in our midst…whenever I read your contributions, I feel myself letting go of the oars, just drift and let myself soak up the space you share.
Thank you.
“I suggest you go back to this time of year in 2004 and remember what was going on in your life.”
Oh no. That was a TERRIBLE time. My husband had lost his job (the first in what would be seven jobs lost in a three year period) and we had no money, no jobs, no help from anyone and the sense of doom was palpable.
Now we are in a situation similar; Dave may not be offered another teaching contract because the current principal doesn’t seem to like white males (he teaches on the rez). Unless he can get another teaching job somewhere, we will be in a financial tailspin again.
I am not looking forward to this time.
Your poem cracked me up Be! Never thought about Venus rhyming with penis before now!
Kazaa – your dream is just amazing. I’m in good discombulated company.
No time to write more!
“I think we will be learning a lot about ourselves and our relationships during the next six weeks.” OH yes.
“Not only that — this looks like some kinky astrology, if you’re the type to experiment with non-ordinary forms of sex.” See, now THAT sounds like fun. Bring it on!
In July 2004 I conceived my daughter, starting me on the journey of motherhood and massive of crisis of loss of self. This culminated in the dissolution of my partnership in early 2011, but meanwhile, I’ve been at the mercy of cosmic fire since the end of May 2010, a profound awakening that has made “normal” life very difficult to navigate. Even harder to describe.
I’m hoping that these weeks really represent a clean and clear transition into the next. It does feel like I’m exactly at the threshold of the next phase of my life. The theme seems to be sexual/spiritual relationship, deeply conscious, authentic connection, unconventional but deep love and (sometimes) sexual bonds fueling extraordinary communication and creative power – and how to make room for or even perceive all this in a world that seems not to have room, much less the vocabulary, for such things. Is space being made now?
So, between 2004 and now is eight years. The number 8 came to my attention in a recent dream – it was a recurring number and seemed to symbolize completion, infinity, resources, a solid container. It was a dream about safety versus motion, the men in my life – the fact that they were free to move around in boats, while I was in a boat but moored on land with my daughter. But the men were also protective/helpful/companion figures, who assisted me or worked with me in motion or creativity or parenting. In this dream I got a glimpse of myself as a successful artist, emerging from the gallery with a whole ancient city at my feet on my way back down to my moored boat. I had just not yet recognized or claimed my success; I was walking back to my own stuck but safe haven.
Around this time I also became aware that in my natal chart, Cap is in the 8th house and Vesta is in the 8th house, which feels very significant, but I don’t know enough to articulate how. (Any insights from those who are experienced?)
I’m not sure what to make of all this. But Huffy, I’m Gem asc, and depleted/discombobulated (overwhelmed with information? lost in fog?) is exactly how I’ve felt for months! Hopefully it all clears up soon, and we’ll find ourselves emerging in a shiny new world!
Why should we think of Venus
as symbolic of a penis?
To do so would demean us
as teachers of the myth.
Instead, we should reverse
this syntax so perverse.
Make right instead of worse
comprehension of the gods.
Take time to concentrate.
Instead of “penetrate”
one word to celebrate
the beauty of this act.
No need for us to use
descriptives that abuse.
Instead, perhaps “infuse”
will conjure up the scene.
For lovers of astrology
it’s good to use mythology
in service of psychology;
find purpose in the stars.
Someday we will combine
the yin and yang of the divine
but only when it’s time;
when we humans have evolved.
be
I remember in 2004 I exchanged with a woman on his new love conquest who had dared him many torment, normal Venus in conjunction Sun at that time there was opposition Pluto and mercury in conjunction Venus square Uranus. Not to mention March the symbol of the lover in conjunction Saturn staggered Pluton. And I remember the proximity of Venus in March in April and May 2004 and a conjunction which took place later on December 5, 2004 in Scorpio. This race just before continuing the transit of Venus to the Sun to marked a very blurred in love period.
I have difficulty to identify Venus as a symbol of sexappeal, Eros asteroid Yes, perhaps because my Venus balance plays more seduction by charm, elegance, card research harmony. Or should that Venus is in conjunction March and can guide the individual in financial affairs. Find out if the two are compatible… luck in love, chance in case… hum
Reading your blog today, dear Eric, realize that it wasn’t just chance that I ended up poring over Eckhart Tolle’s wonderful chapter on relationships in The Power of Now, yesterday afternoon. So enjoyed re-reading your 2004 piece “…realising how those patterns add up to a culture of endless war. And then letting go of them in this moment, this space that is now opening”.
Yes. In spring/summer 2004 I started my spiritual journey for real – I finally found the spiritual path/structure I’d been looking for for so long (without realising), and began my work in earnest. It’s been a tough road, but my whole way of perceiving life changed radically, starting from that time. And I finally began to ‘de-neuroticise’ myself (a lifetime’s work!).
Felt really rough all weekend, and also today I’m feeling really depleted and discombobulated. Wonder if anyone else is feeling that way. And wonder if it’s also cos my natal Venus is in Gemini. Thanks Eric! xx