In the natal chart, the planet Venus as a personal planet represents one’s feminine energy and expression. Venus returns to the zodiacal sign she was in when you were born every year, but she returns most exactly by degree to replicate her position in the sky as it was on your birthday only every eight years. Beginning with the eighth birthday, then, we all have a Venus Return every eight years. The birthdays marking 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80, 88, and 96 years are significant in terms of the evolvement of one’s feminine expression for both women and men, although these cycles are more obvious in significance for women. Indeed, more and more girls are experiencing the first physical transformations of puberty as early as age 8; the hormonal blossoming of the Sweet 16 debutante is long-celebrated; partnership and motherhood often take center stage in the years surrounding ages 24 and 32; the empowerment and “sexual peak” of women at 40 and into their forties is well-known; and the occurrence of menopause and transition into the Crone years occurs sometime between the ages 48 to 72. “As Above, So Below, As Within, So Without,” and so it is, courtesy here of Venus. Venus’ full cycle runs about 584 days, so the opportunity to consciously and creatively participate in these cycles extends for more than a year and a half surrounding these key birthdays.
Acknowledging that it is human nature, and creative and powerful, minimally, to attach meaning to the ways of the planets and constellations, Shamanic Astrology operates from a mythic perspective. The Sumerian myth of Queen Inanna, dating from 3000 BC, is one of many myths said to parallel or be a reflection the 584-day Venus cycle. To understand the Venus Return and to form a structure with which to co-create with Great Mystery during these cycles, this myth is shared, albeit in an abbreviated form.
Inanna journeys in a silver boat to the Underworld, where she will see her sister Erishkegal and attend the funeral of Gugallana, Lord of the Underworld. On the way, she passes through seven gates, and at each gate she must relinquish a treasured vestment (robe, crown, necklace, ring, etc). Projected onto this myth is the notion that these vestments correspond with the seven chakras or energy centers in the human body. Chakra is a Sanskrit word with a meaning similar to spinning wheel/disk, and each chakra is associated with particular parts of the body and its organs, particular colors and sounds, and particular emotional and psychological needs, issues, and expressions. For example, at the first gate, Inanna must give up her crown, representing the power of her seventh chakra (also known as the crown chakra), associated with her connection to Spirit, her self-love and honoring of her own sovereignty, and with the colors purple or white. This ritual of loss and surrender of what she has valued about each of her chakras or power centers repeats at each gate, and ultimately she arrives in the Underworld effectively stripped of all her power. Truly what is rendered is that which no longer serves her, and this stripping away is the beginning step in a profound transformation in each of her chakras and, once assimilated, of her whole being.
After arriving in the Underworld, Inanna is killed and her naked body is said to be hung on hooks or skewered on a spit; some such grotesque and dramatic Scorpionic death scene is created. Ninshubar, her assistant, arranges for 60 revitalizing administrations of bread and/or water, resulting in her ascension, in reverse order, through the gates. At each gate she regains her corresponding lost vestment and, more importantly, the power each represents. She arises from the Underworld transformed and reborn into a higher and better-serving expression of herself.
The silver boat which transports Inanna from gate to gate is a symbol for the Moon, and Inanna’s approach of each gate represents the Moon conjoining Venus. Inanna’s life-saving assistant Ninshubar is Mercury, the planet which is never far from Venus’ side. The 60 administrations of drops of rejuvenating water correspond to the 60 days Venus is in the Underworld, the Underworld being below the horizon, i.e., out of our view, on or approaching the other side of planet Earth.
After approximately 260 days as the Morning Star, Venus disappeared from the morning sky and entered the Underworld in May 2008. She rises from the Underworld today, July 15, 2008, and will soon be visible to the USA in the evening sky. She will appear as Evening Star every night for approximately 260 nights before she conjoins the Sun next Spring and then, rising as Morning Star, begins a new 584-day cycle.
The opportunity for a death and rebirth experience is the point of the Underworld journey not only for Inanna and Venus but for anyone turning these multiple-of-eight ages. With our conscious participation, we can employ these celestial energies directly in our own lives to release, transform, and rebirth aspects of our femininity or feminine/yin side. In this particular 2007-09 cycle, the transformation Venus has undertaken involves the archetypal energies of Leo: radiant self-love, shining one’s light with charisma, inspiring others to also be self-loving, creative, and warmly expressive of their divinity.
The dates below are especially potent for conscious participation in this cycle. Your conscious participation can be as simple or elaborate as you wish, anything from five minutes of stillness in which you resolve to make a change in your life as regards your feminine or yin expression, to hours of ceremony outside at night under Venus on land sacred to you. Venus won’t care how you honor her/your journey, as long as you do.
Ideally, your conscious participation with this entire cycle would have begun in September 2007, as Venus approached the first gate, and surrendered her crown. Similarly, in light of the issues/areas associated with the crown chakra, you could have then considered what no longer serves you in terms of your relationship to Spirit/Source/God — for example, perhaps a belief or an attitude — and intended to let go of that which is non-serving. But, the date of this writing is Summer 2008, and so we can only work with what remains of the cycle, which is no small thing.
Each date represents a Moon-Venus conjunction and, mythologically, represents Inanna’s boat reapproaching each gate after her ordeal in the Underworld, whereupon she reclaims each of her vestments and the power of each of the chakras. Again, ultimately she is reborn, transformed, fully in her power and exhibiting her highest and best expression.
To view Venus on these dates, look to the West after sunset. Obviously the Moon will be very near Venus, although not visible if New. There is a wealth of information on the chakras available elsewhere. I offer keywords below to inspire you and get your wheels turning, and I trust you can take it from here. You are the power in your life, and you know you best. Namaste ~
August 2, 2008 23 degrees Leo
Inanna heals and reclaims power of 1st or base chakra: basic survival needs, security needs, connection to family of origin, tribal/community connections
September 1, 2008 2 degrees Libra
Heals and reclaims power of 2nd or sacral chakra: sexual and creative energy, emotional storehouse, relationship to values including money
October 1, 2008 8degrees Scorpio
Heals and reclaims power of 3rd or solar plexus chakra: personal power and will, identity, individuality, autonomy, inner strength
November 1, 2008 16 degrees Sagittarius
Heals and reclaims power of 4th or heart chakra: capacity to love self and others, heart’s desire
December 1, 2008 18 degrees Capricorn
Heals and reclaims power of 5th or throat chakra: voice, self-expression, intentions, ability to speak your truth, ability to manifest with your/the Word
December 31, 2008 26 degrees Aquarius
Heals and reclaims power of 6th or brow chakra: inner vision, insight, intuition, knowing, focus, direction in life
January 30, 2009 26 degrees Pisces
Heals and reclaims power of 7th or crown chakra: connection to and relationship with Source/Spirit/God, spirituality, expression of one’s divine nature
Sometimes in a Venus Cycle there is an eighth Moon-Venus conjunction, or an eighth gate, and there is said to be an eighth chakra, in the aura above the physical body.
February 27, 2009 15 degrees Aries
Heals and reclaims power of 8th chakra: connection within the One Consciousness, universal love, connection with all that is, pure potential
Kathryn can be found at: www.namastetherapeutics.com/liberating/astrology.html
Your Divine Blueprint 