[Previous entry: "Maya "Burner Days""]
08/21/2007: "Venus Switches from Evening Star to Morning Star - Hold on to your Hat"
By Barry Orr and Bruce Scofield
The end of Venus's visibility as an evening star ends on about August 13th, 2007, when it disappears into the Sun's rays. On August 18th (GMT), it reaches inferior conjunction. On August 22nd (approximately), Venus makes its first appearance as a morning star, rising in the pre-dawn sky just before the Sun. (Technically, this is know as its "heliacal rising.") The Maya viewed this emergent Venus as a malevolent deity, a "spearing god" who struck down specific groups or things depending on the associated position of the apparition in their 260-day calendar. The details of this association are contained in the Venus tables of the Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving books of the Maya culture.
Venus was associated with with the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl (whom the Maya called Kukulcan), and points in the synodic cycle of Venus have been linked to key events in the Quetzalcoatl myth. In Mesoamerican culture, Quetzalcoatl as Venus symbolized the reach for civilization through control of the sex drive - which brings great art and architecture and a well-regulated society. The point of the Venus cycle that we are now entering was thought to symbolize the breakdown of social order as the basic biological instincts become unleashed and are witnessed as rash, impulsive actions taken by the rich, famous, and powerful - on all levels of society. In anecdotal studies, the heliacal rising of Venus has shown correspondences with events such as "the downfall of leaders, plane crashes, and embarrassing situations in high places." (See How to Practice Mayan Astrology, Scofield and Orr, 2007, and Signs of Time, Scofield, 1993.)
In August 2007, the day of Venus's heliacal rising is interesting in that it just precedes the lunar eclipse of August 28th, amplifying the idea that we have entered a month of critical astrological developments. In keeping with the methodology of the Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving Maya manuscripts, one can speculate that there are five "flavors" of the heliacal rise; they repeat every eight years. Thus, the current Venus heliacal rise should be related to those that occurred in August 1999, 1991, 1983, etc. In 1999, the heliacal rising occurred shortly after the historical solar eclipse of August 11th and can be seen as part of the cosmic set-up for the political and economic turmoil of the following year(s). Notably, three days before the inferior conjunction on August 20th 1999, an earthquake struck Turkey and killed over 17,000 people.
In August 1991, the heliacal rising corresponded with events related to the collapse of the Soviet Union, including an attempted coup on Mikhail Gorbachev's government. Interestingly, if one projects the Dresden Codex Venus tables forward, then the "victim" of the current apparition is symbolized by the deity K'awil, which was associated with royal lineages. It has been suggested that kings (i.e., leaders) may be the target of this specific Venus appearance, which is associated with the Maya day-sign K'an. (See http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/4VENUS.htm.)
A chart cast for the approximate date of the heliacal rising (August 22 2007, 6:14 AM EDT, Washington DC) shows a Sun-Saturn conjunction and the Moon applying to a conjunction of Pluto. Via its retrograde motion, Venus itself (a few degrees behind Sun/Saturn) is also applying to an opposition with Neptune. Coincidentally, it is also very close to the position of natal Venus in the chart of George W. Bush. (Alas, we have given up speculating on anything related to Bush's chart.)
One of the characteristics of the current Saturn-Neptune opposition is the combination of deceitfulness and weakness of groups in positions of power. For example, the current administration raises many questions in regard to its sincerity and even more in regard to its effectiveness. In Massachusetts, the Republican governor appointed a number of politically biased trustees to the University system who then nominated Andrew Card, a figure in the Bush administration, as a recipient of an honorary degree - which he got, under protest, in May of this year. When asked why he was selected, one of the trustees was reported to have said he was a nice guy on the golf course. All around the country one hears stories of boards, mostly appointed (including those that have some authority over libraries, colleges, municipal departments) and all sorts of organizations doing strange and suspicious things. With Saturn in Leo and Neptune and Aquarius, it appears that authority is being undermined by pretensions to democracy, deceit and what appears to be an epidemic of personality disorders.
Whatever disorienting events may unfold in the near term, we can be sure that the proximity of the emergent Venus to Saturn-Neptune will not let us forget that we are still immersed in the symbolism of that waning conjunction: the feeling that our once-stable reality continues to slip away.
Note: An early version of this article appeared in Linda Weissman's email newsletter of August 13th 2007. The above version was published in the NCGR E-News of August 18th, 2007 (Issue No. 74).