Tonight (8/17) at 10:21pm PST, the closest planetary conjunction of the year aligns as Venus and Jupiter embrace in Leo. Seven Degrees, 14 Minutes Leo to be exact and this is nearly an exact Conjunction (within .21 degrees). The exact conjunction of Venus and Jupiter cannot be seen in the Northern Hemisphere sky as they will have set before the Sun, but tomorrow morning you can celebrate this merging of the two brightest Planetary Beacons by waking up and looking East about an hour to an hour and a half before Sunrise (which means around 4:45am).
Just what does this mean astrologically and archetypally? The Greek Myths tell us Aphrodite (Venus) was the first born of the Olympians. This Goddess of Love and Beauty was born from the merger of Gaia's (Earth's) waters with the blood of Ouranus' (Uranus') phallus after his son Chronos (Saturn) castrated him. Later, when Chronos' (Saturn's) son Zeus (Jupiter) defeated his father and the titans after a ten-year war and became King of Kings, God of Gods, he adopted his Aunt Aphrodite (Venus). What kind of patriarchal nonsense is this? A nephew adopting his aunt? Furthermore, when Aphrodite refused Zeus' advances he forced her to marry Vulcan (Hephaestus), the only Olympian who was not of perfect form. Think about that... the Goddess of Love and Beauty forced by her nephew to marry the only unattractive God.
Just what does this mean astrologically and archetypally? The Greek Myths tell us Aphrodite (Venus) was the first born of the Olympians. This Goddess of Love and Beauty was born from the merger of Gaia's (Earth's) waters with the blood of Ouranus' (Uranus') phallus after his son Chronos (Saturn) castrated him. Later, when Chronos' (Saturn's) son Zeus (Jupiter) defeated his father and the titans after a ten-year war and became King of Kings, God of Gods, he adopted his Aunt Aphrodite (Venus). What kind of patriarchal nonsense is this? A nephew adopting his aunt? Furthermore, when Aphrodite refused Zeus' advances he forced her to marry Vulcan (Hephaestus), the only Olympian who was not of perfect form. Think about that... the Goddess of Love and Beauty forced by her nephew to marry the only unattractive God.
In this time of Feminine and Masculine energies remerging, perhaps Venus and Jupiter are coming together to heal old wounds. How do the current Planetary Positions further enhance this embrace? Take a look at the chart above. I've hidden most of the aspects behind the Earth to focus on those highlighted here. The Venus / Jupiter is circled in bold at the bottom of the chart at 7.14 Leo. The thin red lines shows their loose Square (90 degree) Aspect to the loose conjunction between Mars and Saturn in Scorpio (top yellow circle on the right). A Square speaks to tension... a time of conflict here to seed beautiful resolution. Do the myths speak of tension between Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn? You better believe it.
One story that comes to mind is Venus' true love with Mars. They snuck around often behind Vulcan's back. In fact, Vulcan's three children with Venus were not his... Mars was their true father. When Vulcan found out about this he fashioned a net to trap Venus and Mars in the act. His intent was to gather the Gods and Goddesses around to witness the lovers' shame. The Goddesses refused to attend this guilt gathering while the Gods' attendance did not give Vulcan's desired results (I wrote a strange post about this about a year ago... http://morethanastrology.weebly.com/blog/no-more-net). Perhaps Mercury said it best, "You can trap me under a net with that beauty any day of the week." Mercury was later rewarded for this by Venus who shared a night of intimacy with the Messenger that rewarded the world with their child Hermaphroditus.
Hermaphroditus was the first hermaphrodite we're told, though Mercury showed transgender signs himself. HIS Greek name was HERmes, after all. What better image is there of the merging Masculine and Feminine than Hermaphorditus? Perhaps this time of conflict and resolution is another signal that now is the time for Venus' love for Mars to come out of the Scorpio shadows. It is time for Love to bridge the void between Yin and Yang by allowing them to embrace the ways of the authentic human heart (Scorpio Light) out in the open. Believe it or not, Saturn is helping with this for the Ringed One represents the operating manual so his two and half year spin through Scorpio is giving us the opportunity of rewriting the rules around following our Excitement, Desire, Passion, and Emotional Authenticity.
I have become quite fond of working astrologically with the Asteroid Goddesses, the four largest planetoids of the Asteroid Belt, the Hammered Bracelet which certainly at one time existed as part of a huge, water-bearing planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Some would even say that Earth herself is a remnant of this Planet that was shattered to pieces long ago. While Venus and Jupiter loosely Square Mars and Saturn, they are in nearly perfect Square (the thicker red line) to the Asteroid Vesta at 7.10 Scorpio. Vesta (Hestia) is the Ceremonial Priestess: the Keeper of the Sacred Flame. Her spin through Scorpio asks us to celebrate magic and the depths of our heart. Her conjunction (bottom yellow circle on the right) to the Asteroid Ceres (Demeter) tells us this celebration will be nurtured for Ceres (recently promoted to a Dwarf Planet by astronomers) represents the ways of the Nurturing Mother.
Notice the blue equilateral triangle in this chart. This is a near perfect Grand Water Trine formed between Scorpio Vesta/Ceres, Pisces Neptune, and Juno in Cancer. Neptune, at home in Pisces, connects his greatest gifs of celestial healing and new mystical vision to that Ceres nurturing of the Vesta Priestess to Juno in Cancer. Juno (Hera) was Zeus' wife. She speaks to relationship and her spin through Cancer further agrees that the relationship between Feminine and Masculine energies with receive Nurturing at this time. This Grand Water Trine speaks to healing of feelings in this time of tension that will certainly provoke a revolution through resolution of old conflicts within the Yin/Yang divide.
Another Aspect I've highlighted is Neptune's Opposition to Mercury in Virgo (shown by the yellow line). Mercury's spin though his Feminine home of Virgo asks us to ground this celestial healing of the Grand Water Trine through our unique, ceremonial practice of individual and direct connection to Spirit. Mercury is also aligned through Sextile (green lines) to Cancer Juno and Scorpio Vesta and Ceres. Sextiles and Trines are alignments of greatest harmony, which combine to form a tightly aligned Kite around Earth tonight.
Here's what Dane Rudhyar (perhaps the greatest astrologer of modern times) said about the Kite Alignment: "When one point of a grand trine is involved in an opposition, the opposition's other end almost inevitably falls at the midpoint of one of the trines, forming sextiles to the other two planets in the trine: a 'kite' formation. In such a pattern, vision or understanding and purpose (trines) find the possibility of outward manifestation in objective form (oppositions and sextiles) through organizational genius and the capacity for planning and enlightened management in which needs and answers to needs are brought together. The functional activities represented by the planet at the midpoint of the bisected trine should be those through which is focused and released what the entire configuration represents."
Virgo Mercury at the Planet at the Midpoint encourages us to focus our intellectual energies into the Earth. The remerging of Yin and Yang is celebrated, not only by the embrace of Masculine and Feminine, but also through the reunification of our Bodies (Earth) and Hearts (Water) with our Intellect (Air) and Spirit (Fire). Notice that the Air is the only element not represented by the Alignments I've emphasized in this chart. Virgo Mercury is guiding us to process this Planetary dance by calling our consciousness from our mind into our bodies. There in our Earth we will find the alchemical dance between the Waters of our Hearts and the Fires of our Will.
These many Alignments speak to the rekindling of the Fires at our Hara, not by ignoring the ways of Heart, but by embracing them. We realize Free Will by Freeing our Will and being really real in the feely feel of our Human Hearts is the waterway to Leo Honor, Courage, Valor, Chivalry, SOVREIGNTY, Self-Love, Confidence, Pride, and Creativity. It is time for the Lion and Lioness to roar together once again. We will Honor their truth, not by hiding for the difficult realities of the Outer World, but by embracing those Outer Conflicts, with the authentic Heart that allows us to see their reflections of our Inner Conflicts. Once we embrace the truths of the Outer to reveal the Inner pains we've been hiding from, we can courageously acknowledge our wounds and Heal Ourselves to Heal the World!
That being said, I encourage you to embrace this beautiful article my sister of Shamanic Astrology Tami Brunk recently composed. It's time to settle the scores with Authentic Love.
http://www.astrologyforearthrenewal.com/venus-and-jupiter-conjunct-at-beehive-cluster-healthy-boundaries-for-a-planet-in-crisis
I love you, I love me, and I love this beautiful gift of the Earth Game, for all of it's mirrors of Light and Shadow.
See you in Space!
Astrolonaut
www.MoreThanAstrology.com
One story that comes to mind is Venus' true love with Mars. They snuck around often behind Vulcan's back. In fact, Vulcan's three children with Venus were not his... Mars was their true father. When Vulcan found out about this he fashioned a net to trap Venus and Mars in the act. His intent was to gather the Gods and Goddesses around to witness the lovers' shame. The Goddesses refused to attend this guilt gathering while the Gods' attendance did not give Vulcan's desired results (I wrote a strange post about this about a year ago... http://morethanastrology.weebly.com/blog/no-more-net). Perhaps Mercury said it best, "You can trap me under a net with that beauty any day of the week." Mercury was later rewarded for this by Venus who shared a night of intimacy with the Messenger that rewarded the world with their child Hermaphroditus.
Hermaphroditus was the first hermaphrodite we're told, though Mercury showed transgender signs himself. HIS Greek name was HERmes, after all. What better image is there of the merging Masculine and Feminine than Hermaphorditus? Perhaps this time of conflict and resolution is another signal that now is the time for Venus' love for Mars to come out of the Scorpio shadows. It is time for Love to bridge the void between Yin and Yang by allowing them to embrace the ways of the authentic human heart (Scorpio Light) out in the open. Believe it or not, Saturn is helping with this for the Ringed One represents the operating manual so his two and half year spin through Scorpio is giving us the opportunity of rewriting the rules around following our Excitement, Desire, Passion, and Emotional Authenticity.
I have become quite fond of working astrologically with the Asteroid Goddesses, the four largest planetoids of the Asteroid Belt, the Hammered Bracelet which certainly at one time existed as part of a huge, water-bearing planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Some would even say that Earth herself is a remnant of this Planet that was shattered to pieces long ago. While Venus and Jupiter loosely Square Mars and Saturn, they are in nearly perfect Square (the thicker red line) to the Asteroid Vesta at 7.10 Scorpio. Vesta (Hestia) is the Ceremonial Priestess: the Keeper of the Sacred Flame. Her spin through Scorpio asks us to celebrate magic and the depths of our heart. Her conjunction (bottom yellow circle on the right) to the Asteroid Ceres (Demeter) tells us this celebration will be nurtured for Ceres (recently promoted to a Dwarf Planet by astronomers) represents the ways of the Nurturing Mother.
Notice the blue equilateral triangle in this chart. This is a near perfect Grand Water Trine formed between Scorpio Vesta/Ceres, Pisces Neptune, and Juno in Cancer. Neptune, at home in Pisces, connects his greatest gifs of celestial healing and new mystical vision to that Ceres nurturing of the Vesta Priestess to Juno in Cancer. Juno (Hera) was Zeus' wife. She speaks to relationship and her spin through Cancer further agrees that the relationship between Feminine and Masculine energies with receive Nurturing at this time. This Grand Water Trine speaks to healing of feelings in this time of tension that will certainly provoke a revolution through resolution of old conflicts within the Yin/Yang divide.
Another Aspect I've highlighted is Neptune's Opposition to Mercury in Virgo (shown by the yellow line). Mercury's spin though his Feminine home of Virgo asks us to ground this celestial healing of the Grand Water Trine through our unique, ceremonial practice of individual and direct connection to Spirit. Mercury is also aligned through Sextile (green lines) to Cancer Juno and Scorpio Vesta and Ceres. Sextiles and Trines are alignments of greatest harmony, which combine to form a tightly aligned Kite around Earth tonight.
Here's what Dane Rudhyar (perhaps the greatest astrologer of modern times) said about the Kite Alignment: "When one point of a grand trine is involved in an opposition, the opposition's other end almost inevitably falls at the midpoint of one of the trines, forming sextiles to the other two planets in the trine: a 'kite' formation. In such a pattern, vision or understanding and purpose (trines) find the possibility of outward manifestation in objective form (oppositions and sextiles) through organizational genius and the capacity for planning and enlightened management in which needs and answers to needs are brought together. The functional activities represented by the planet at the midpoint of the bisected trine should be those through which is focused and released what the entire configuration represents."
Virgo Mercury at the Planet at the Midpoint encourages us to focus our intellectual energies into the Earth. The remerging of Yin and Yang is celebrated, not only by the embrace of Masculine and Feminine, but also through the reunification of our Bodies (Earth) and Hearts (Water) with our Intellect (Air) and Spirit (Fire). Notice that the Air is the only element not represented by the Alignments I've emphasized in this chart. Virgo Mercury is guiding us to process this Planetary dance by calling our consciousness from our mind into our bodies. There in our Earth we will find the alchemical dance between the Waters of our Hearts and the Fires of our Will.
These many Alignments speak to the rekindling of the Fires at our Hara, not by ignoring the ways of Heart, but by embracing them. We realize Free Will by Freeing our Will and being really real in the feely feel of our Human Hearts is the waterway to Leo Honor, Courage, Valor, Chivalry, SOVREIGNTY, Self-Love, Confidence, Pride, and Creativity. It is time for the Lion and Lioness to roar together once again. We will Honor their truth, not by hiding for the difficult realities of the Outer World, but by embracing those Outer Conflicts, with the authentic Heart that allows us to see their reflections of our Inner Conflicts. Once we embrace the truths of the Outer to reveal the Inner pains we've been hiding from, we can courageously acknowledge our wounds and Heal Ourselves to Heal the World!
That being said, I encourage you to embrace this beautiful article my sister of Shamanic Astrology Tami Brunk recently composed. It's time to settle the scores with Authentic Love.
http://www.astrologyforearthrenewal.com/venus-and-jupiter-conjunct-at-beehive-cluster-healthy-boundaries-for-a-planet-in-crisis
I love you, I love me, and I love this beautiful gift of the Earth Game, for all of it's mirrors of Light and Shadow.
See you in Space!
Astrolonaut
www.MoreThanAstrology.com