On Course

By Len Wallick

Venus is up to speed with direct apparent motion of just over a degree a day. Tomorrow it enters Sagittarius. That has been a long time coming. It is consistent with this: the lesser benefic has been a trail blazer and trend setter since at least the 2010 Vernal Equinox. This ingress echoes and anticipates some of the dominant trends in our current astrology.

Daily Astrology & Adventure by Eric Francis

Venus first made its way into Scorpio, the immediately previous sign, as the second week of September was getting under way. That’s a long time ago, a quarter of a year. It was still the so-called Evening Star in the west at sunset. It had not yet attained its greatest brilliancy for the tenure in that part of the sky. It was a month away from a second conjunction with Mars, the first having been in Libra in August, concurrent with the greatest eastern elongation of 2010. Jupiter had just returned to Pisces and Pluto was still in retrograde.

Normally the bright one would have made its way through nearly four signs since the Scorpio ingress. Alas, this planet was due for a change of pace. Shortly after the second Mars conjunction, Venus stationed for a rare retrograde of its own that revisited Libra, one of the two signs it rules. That was about the time the cardinal T-square began to unwind as Saturn (also in Libra, where it is exalted) exceeded the degree of the lunar North node in Capricorn.

So it was that Venus, as it exists inside us, began an inward journey to balance and ruminate on the long and merry chase of Mars and the auspicious. This time corresponded with its disappearance from the western sky and a transit across the face of the Sun before reappearing, astonishingly large and bright, just before dawn late last year. Not that it has ever been out of touch. That would be out of character. Indeed, even in the anaretic chrysalis of its final stages of the transformational transit through Scorpio, it was on the spot to trine the last of three Jupiter-Uranus conjunctions. It thus lent a lubricating fluidity to what could easily have been a disruptive aspect of epic proportions.

Indeed, our brothers and sisters down under in Australia did catch a bit of the exaggerated potential of what happens when the unexpected meets expansion and both meet water. Vast areas the size of entire states or provinces were suddenly inundated with some of the largest and most destructive floods since the Indian sub-continent suffered the same earlier this year. Given that Jupiter’s Pisces conjunction with Uranus took place on the same day of a partial solar eclipse, we should count ourselves lucky that the Oz experience was not more widespread. The synchronicity of the Venus trine suggests that there was some modulation to be thankful for.

And now, at long last for something quite different. We may have reason to wonder where to find this part of ourselves after a season and more of spelunking in the cold corridors of self-examination. Whither the generous passion, the compassionate desire? After the ecliptic’s transition brought our losses home and put them on the mantle, where can we find the means to build another fire and dry them out? Anyone watching the eastern sky during the darkest hours of the last month or so would be able to tell you. If, as Tolkien suggested, dawn is the eternal expression of hope for our kind, then it has never been more eloquently stated than by Venus for those who have been able to avail themselves of the sight.

Dare we say hope? The word has developed a bad reputation as of late — something akin to delusion in the minds of many, and the object of derision and discount. If anything can breathe life into this withered part of our internal landscape, it is Venus. If any place can thaw the averse and fearful, restoring the potential of manifestation, it is where the mutable fires of Sagittarius exist in your chart.

Witness a climatic synchronicity. As if to tell us in no uncertain terms that our reach has not atrophied and remind us that passionate strength yet informs our grasp, this coming Saturday, one day after the change of sign, Venus achieves its greatest western elongation. This is the equivalent of conjoining with Mars on the other side of the sky, on the other side of a season. Except this time, the outstretched hand is offered to us. Each and every one of us may now partake of the nourishment we need during this time of forward movement among the planets. This is the time to refresh our spiritual and emotional energies.

As we begin this year palpably on course for a future very different from our present, we may do well to heed the apparent source of inspiration for the culture that gave this transitional period its popular identity. While much is certainly lost in time and translation, the Mayan astrologers were apparently quite taken with Venus. Given the limits of their mathematical system and timekeeping abilities, their devoted observations of that one planet may possibly have been extrapolated to develop their expanding spiral of cycles that extended past the lifetime of their culture and into the cosmic epoch. There’s no way to know for sure, but it would make sense given that some sort of incarnation is taking place, even as you read this.

So give it a chance and give it a weekend. Take some time to do as little as possible and look inside for what is coming to the surface. Could be your own personal dawn. It’s there for you to witness if you can wake up on time.

Offered In Service

12 thoughts on “On Course”

  1. susyc – didn’t see your comment about the buffalo dancers till today; a lovely respite from the grief in today’s news.

  2. pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7uoC-YTQy8&feature=related

    Too right about treats Len – our Mayor who has never liked us at all has his birthday on the 6. To my surprise he seemed pleased to greet me and came up to me in the street to wish me happy new year on friday. I was so touched, so full of gratitude. (A month or so ago he had been saying how our hydroproject brought in 24,000 this nov and last nov it was 4,000. After the meeting I forget what the conversation was but he said to me repressively ‘Money doesn’t fall out of the sky you know,’ which was amusing, I thought. ‘Except this year…?’ ‘Yes but this to pay and that and that,’ he said. Yet praps he was amused too do you think?

    Give venus a day and the WE to manifest hey. Thank you so much Len for the bearing always…

  3. Len,

    I admire your choice to focus today’s Daily Astrology exclusively on the Venus ingress to Sadge from its unusually long voyage in Scorpio. It is an important event and your writing today paid a beautiful tribute. The other competing aspect of Saturn square the Sun deserves a blog of its own. Your writing today was peak — in content and in form. I was particularly intrigued by the section on the Mayan astrology, of which I know little. And funny, that I came home today and found a book on the topic [erroneously?] delivered to my home from a book club to which i belong. I would rather hear more from you…

    We are blessed with the free service that you offer us 3 days a week, the blood sweat and tears that you pour into it.

    You are appreciated.

  4. Here is a bit more extended and accurate version of my Epiphany morning than the one I originally posted. I hope you enjoy it.

    For Epiphany I was up before dawn, watching Venus and the Dipper in the frigid air waiting for the Buffalo dancers to bring back the sun. I was too early and walked around under the dark sky and bright stars waiting. As the sun rose, the dancers were brought down the hill from the east and across the paved road by drummers and singers on the village side. As the dancers passed by, people threw cornmeal in their path. Each dancer was anointed by a man who dropped dried corn kernels over their headdresses from a basket. As the dancers passed, people picked up the corn from the road, one grandmother using the fringe of her brightly striped shawl to sweep some into a pile to pick up. The Buffalo dancers led dancers wearing headdresses representing Deer, Elk, Big Horn Sheep, and Eagles. Short needle pine boughs decorated costumes that were predominantly turquoise and white. Male dancer’s upper bodies were bare and painted reddish brown as were their faces. Their lower bodies were wrapped in white to the knees and tall moccasins covered calves. Buffalo galloped, deer and elk ran, big horn sheep leaped and eagles flew and then lit. Masculinity was also represented across the life span from grandfathers to chubby toddler boys. Young boys received blessings from older men. After arriving at the row of drummers, dancers and people turned to watch the sunrise before walking to the village plaza. There was only one female Buffalo dancer. She was the only female dancing with all the male dancers. I was struck by the elegance and grace of her dancing and also the modesty and integrity of her meditative self possession and the fact that she seemed to confer as much honor as she received.

  5. Natal Saturn conj Gal Center 5th house Sagg are patiently awaiting Venus’ arrival and visit. (She won’t see them directly for a bit.) If there is one lesson I have learned from you thus far Mr. Len, it is that it is good to be quiet and listen. Even if I can not see the stars so well from this vantage point, I can still be patient and quiet and listen. Eventually I will hear them sing.

  6. For Epiphany I was up before dawn watching Venus and the Dipper in the frigid air waiting for the Buffalo dancers to bring back the sun. The dancers were brought down the hill from the east by drummers and singers as the people threw cornmeal in their path. Each dancer was anointed by a man who dropped dried corn over their headdresses from a basket. The Buffalo dancers led dancers representing Deer, big horn sheep, and eagles. There was one female Buffalo dancer. I was struck by the elegance and grace of her dancing and also the modesty and integrity of her meditative self possession.

  7. Be, you reminded me of how I would throw birdseed into our yard on brisk snowy mornings when I was a very small girl – and my favorite bird was the red-winged blackbird! They became scarce in the inner-city as years passed (along with the cardinals).

    Len, getting to you later……so for now; thanks with love!

  8. pam: Thank you for the reminder that today comemorates the three wise-guy astrologers who showed up late for the party. Fortunately they brought treats.

    KathyC: you are most welcome

    be: Thank you for bringing in the Sun-Saturn square. No small thing. Every blog must focus and it’s always tough trying to decide what to leave out.

  9. Something to cling to; thanks Len. Hope that darn old Sun-Saturn square doesn’t spoil her shine. Will take your advice and do as little as possible this weekend. If I go back to bed right now I just might make it up and awake in time for her cross-over. Besides, that’s when I feed the birds. That too is a joy to behold!
    be

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