The Stunning Secret of Venus Retrograde – Hearts and Roses Around the Sun
Welcome to one of the most special and magical astrological events – the end of an eight year cycle known as the ‘Venus Transits’. This month all eyes are on the Annular Eclipse which takes place on May 20th. But the real cosmic show in the sky will occur on June 6th, 2012, when Venus, planet of love, beauty, relationships and creativity is not only retrograde but will pass between the Sun and the Earth. As Venus is much smaller than the Sun and much closer to it, she will not eclipse it, but will be seen as a dark ‘beauty spot’ moving against the Sun’s surface and this will last for approximately six and a half hours.
What makes this event so special is that the ‘Venus Transit’ cycle only occurs every 105-120 years – when she ‘eclipses’ the Sun at the beginning and the end of the transit cycle. This ‘eclipse’ marks the end of the transit which began when Venus passed between the Earth and the Sun on June 8th 2004, initiating the eight-year cycle. We will not have another chance to observe Venus like this for over a century.
Venus transits of this nature alternate between the signs of Gemini and Sagittarius. We can therefore say that these two signs will be the most affected on a personal level and especially those Geminis and Sagittarians whose Suns are within an orb of 14-17 degrees. For more information on what this means for all the signs, check your horoscope for the week 4th-10th June next month.
But how is this likely to affect us on a collective scale as this event is so rare? In the past, Venus Transits have coincided with dramatic leaps forward in communication (ruled by Gemini), exploration and education (Sagittarius). In 1631-1639 the Venus cycle in Sagittarius ushered in the Age of Reason – epitomised by Descartes statement ‘I think therefore I am’ which become the cornerstone of Western philosophy. The transit of 1761-1769 brought the Age of Enlightenment – Benjamin Franklin experimented with electricity. The Encyclopaedia Britannica was first published. Captain Cook discovered Tahiti and the planet Uranus was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope. 1874-1882 heralded the Age of Imperialism. Madame Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society, Nietzsche wrote his influential philosophy and during this period Albert Einstein and Carl Jung were both born.
If we think of the Sun as the masculine energy of our solar system and Venus as embodying the feminine, we can say with this transit the masculine is ‘embracing’ the feminine as she shines at her most glorious. This is an almost alchemical event. It is an opportunity to restore the feminine where it has been disempowered and at the very best we could see radical changes in attitudes towards sexual equality beginning to emerge in very rigid, masculine dominated systems and more collaboration and understanding between groups who have up to now been polarised. This can come about through empathy and understanding. No matter what our beliefs, our colour or nationality, when we lose someone we love the pain is the same. Venus may usher in the awareness that the best way to resolve a conflict is to recognise our similarities, not how different we are.
If we doubt Venus’s message then we should look to the skies for proof. The magic of the Venus cycle unfolds with every loop, as with every revolution around the Sun, she forms a rose petal or a heart shape and then another and another every 1.6 years. A magnificent rose begins to form around the Sun with a full pentacle shaping itself in the middle. The Heart and Rose are intimately related to Venus as symbols of love, beauty and attraction.
Venus is asking us to look at who we communicate with and how we have done so in the past and now to do so from the heart. As we do this our relationships with each other, and the world around us will transform – blooming like a rose.
