Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation tomorrow while in a Taurus conjunction with the centaur planet Asbolus. That means Venus will be as high in the western sky as it’s going to get. It is a milestone that any single zodiac chart will not reveal, yet it will have astrological significance. It’s an occurrence that will initiate a course of events you will be able to witness in the body over the coming month or so, weather permitting, giving your eyes an advantage over any astrological table. For you, the greatest eastward elongation of Venus will implicitly initiate a period of about a month when you will find it attractive to see the wider scope of things behind abstract data.
The greatest eastern elongation doesn’t mean Venus begins retrograde motion this week; that will not happen until May 15. It does not even mean a retrograde cycle is beginning. Venus enters its first echo phase on April 11 at the degree where it will eventually resume direct motion in late June. It does mean the apparent motion of Venus will begin slowing down.
Venus slowing down means the Sun, and the western horizon, will be catching up. Every evening after tomorrow, the brightest planet will be lower in the sky, closer to the Sun. The part about being closer to the Sun is something you will be able to follow on an ephemeris. An ephemeris is a table that shows the sign and degree position of objects, such as Venus and the Sun, from one day to the next, distilling the information of many sequential zodiac charts. Even the greater temporal reach of an ephemeris, however, cannot tell you what your eyes, ideally with the aid of binoculars, will plainly reveal as the Sun gets closer to Venus. It will be a beautiful paradox.