by Silvianne K. Delmars | July 8, 2024 |
From July 10-12, Venus is hovering about 10 degrees away from the Sun, as she emerges from her underworld sojourn on the far side of the Sun, poised to begin her long journey of unfolding in the evening sky.
When Venus will actually become visible on the western twilight horizon is a mysteriously subjective matter, dependent upon the place on Earth from which she is viewed, whether the observer is standing in a valley or (like the wise ancients) high on a temple expressly designed for just this purpose, or any one of the other countlessly varied landscapes of our sacred planet.
Are there trees and humid, rainforest air, or the arid, clear expanses of the desert twilight? Is our vision clear and sharp with the innocence of youth, or dim and clouded by the scenes of a long life full of soul-piercing joys and disappointments?
Venus first sighting, July 7 2024, by Gemini Brett
At this tender point of her journey, newly reborn from her ordeal of death and rebirth, Venus is dim and still tentative in her outer expression as she clings to the horizon, visible for only those fleeting moments in the liminal space of evening twilight. On the inner realms, we can imagine this reborn Sacred Leo Feminine is also fiercely determined, imbued with the distilled essence of the eternal, ever-shifting archetype she is now impelled to embody in a new way, as she returns to the outer trappings of her old life, irrevocably shifted.
How profound and lasting that shift will be depends entirely upon her dedication to staying true to the renewed understanding she brings with her, as she emerges from the dark into the light of day. Hounded by demons who prey upon old guilt and habits, urging her to fall into the trap of allegiance to outworn codes of behavior, she must reach for illumination from the small but steady flame that burns in the service of a new code, sourced in her own deep knowing.
Over these three evenings, Venus will inhabit three different degrees of the zodiac, from the last degree of Cancer through the first two degree frequencies of Leo. Before we tease out some of the meanings suggested by these degrees, I thought it would be fitting to share the more general, beautifully inspirational prayer that opens the Leo chapter of Ellias Lonsdale’s Star Sparks:
“Empower us to remember that which has felt hidden for too long. Charge us to come forth now from the smoldering red-hot embers of love and be the real truth in every breath. Allow the star sparks to be the encouragement we need to step off into the unknown, into what is not yet charted. May generous, joyous footprints in the warm Earth bring us to the heart of the Sun inside.”
In recent weeks I have been on a deep dive into the evocative and mysterious world of multiple degree symbol systems as elucidated by John Sandbach, the originator of the Chandra symbols. Although Ellias Lonsdale, with Sandbach’s enthusiastic permission, has brought the Chandra symbols to a larger audience through his amazing soul-sourced, perceptive descriptions, I also love the magical interplay present in Sandbach’s work, as he weaves together no less than four different degree symbol sets that he has been guided to birth over the last several years.
Here is a sample of what he shares about the symbols that embody the Cancer 30 zodiac frequency (the position of Venus on July 10 as she first arrives at an exact 10 degrees away from the Sun).
“A woman with eyes in the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet. (Omega Symbol)
You see so much and feel so much of what is going on around you, and of what is needed by each individual. You can help others to feel more connected to themselves, to each other, and to the world. You realize that all insecurities are illusions – that we are capable of getting on a wavelength of safety and divine peace just as instantaneously as we can tune into it.
The Chandra Symbol for this degree is ‘Wild grapes growing everywhere.’ Grapes themselves are symbols of abundance, and here we find an abundance of abundances. The woman of the Omega symbol is one of the Taras of the Tibetan pantheon – always on call and ready to help whoever needs her.
This is a vast and plenteous degree. The truth it expresses is that we all already have everything we need. The problem here is that the only way to manifest this truth is to grow into it, by letting go of all self-imposed limitations. It is a task that lasts until the moment of enlightenment.
Oracle
The eyes were in her palms because when she held out her hands she
offered vision to others. And the eyes were in the soles of her feet so
she might see where she was going, even in darkness. Her six eyes looked
for those in need, and found them, often in faraway places, hidden and
remote, places in both the past and the future as well as the present…”
It is one of the many beautiful synchronicities of the Venus synodic cycle that she almost always rises as an evening star in the same zodiac sign embodied in the larger overstory of that cycle. But she does not always rise in the early degrees of the sign. Indeed, in recent years, it is only the Leo overstory Venus evening rise that is hovering so near to, and even dipping back into, the previous sign.
There is a richness to this on many levels. Most immediately, it evokes the powerful energies of the recent New Moon in Cancer opposing Ceres and Pluto. Newly reborn Leo overstory Venus is being informed and nurtured by her submersion in the watery womb of The Great Mother, where she has also been confronted with her deepest fears. A potent reminder, also, that no element of the constantly moving and interconnected cycles is ever truly completely isolated from that which comes before and that which follows. The fullness of the last degree of the sign that is dropping away is always present in the originality of the following first degree. They are always waves as well as particles.
How can we ever fully embody Leo radical self-love and its enthusiastic, unbounded creativity without an unshakable inner experience of the incontrovertible, primal, pervasive, unconditional love that exists for us in the very fabric of the universe?
On July 11, as the visibility of Venus’ emergence enters more into the realm of possibility vs. theory, she finds herself in the very first degree of Leo in the evening sky. Here’s an excerpt from John Sandbach’s poetic vision of this degree.
“A magician inventing many new techniques. (Omega Symbol)
There are an endless number of ways to get where one is going. Because you know this you approach experience inventively and are able to continually make new connections between things. You’re capable of reinventing yourself over and over, calling forth new aspects of your being and dramatizing them to others in bright, vivid fashion. As you engage in this process you come to see more and more clearly that everything is magic.
The Chandra Symbol for this degree is “A divorced husband and wife enjoying each other’s company.” This degree is about appreciating others for who they are without placing any expectations on the relationship. When there are differences of opinion, you either learn from them, or you find other areas through which to relate. This is a key method for maintaining one’s own integrity while respecting that of others as well.
Oracle
Novice practitioners were always concerned with drawing the forms correctly and pronouncing the incantations properly, but he knew the paths of magic were numberless, that the forces of nature were like the colors of a palette that could be blended and combined in endless ways to create new landscapes, new visions…”
Newly reborn Venus is beckoning us to the co-creation of a new world, where we revel in the creative exuberance of reinventing ourselves endlessly, while at the same time respecting every other individual’s unique vision, no matter how different in may be from what we hold most dear.
Mars’ Journey
Meanwhile, the Sacred Masculine is experiencing his own milestones on the journey to becoming, as Mars finishes up his journey of rebirth and the growth of wisdom, Phase Four in his Gemini synodic cycle overstory, which began back in December of 2022 and will end in January of next year.
Mars made his last conjunction with the Moon in the morning sky in this phase on July 1 at Taurus 17 and will meet up with evolutionary change agent Uranus on July 15 at 26 Taurus 19. Here is John Sandbach’s commentary on this Taurus 27 degree frequency.
“A greenhouse full of tropical plants set in a snowy landscape. (Omega Symbol)
You hold to your way of being no matter what environment you’re in. You have an instinct for being able to isolate yourself from whatever will be harmful or non-life supporting to you. You go your own way in a manner that many others find compelling, admirable, and worthy of emulating. Yours can be a quite positive use of stubbornness.
The Chandra Symbol for this degree is A man sculpturing hedges into animal forms. The Omega symbol effectively places something – the tropical plants – where they wouldn’t normally grow, and the Omega symbol turns natural forms into shapes they wouldn’t normally take. This degree delights in juxtapositions, especially unexpected ones, which heighten one’s awareness and help one to see more clearly and appreciate more fully one’s environment. The amount of trouble taken to build a greenhouse in the snow, or to sculpt topiary is great, but this degree likes challenges that achieve striking results. The purpose here is to reveal what we have, and to bring forth talents and abilities no matter what difficultly or inconvenience is met in the process.”
There is a heightened activation of this delightfully, determinedly creative Taurus degree right now (and again in the fall), as slow-moving Uranus hangs out there for a month, meeting not only with Mars, but also squaring Mercury on July 21, being activated by the passing Moon on July 29, and finally squaring Venus on August 2. After stationing retrograde at the beginning of September only one degree away, Uranus will then go back and make an opposition to Venus in Scorpio from this same degree on October 14.
The Gemini Sacred Masculine, within and without, is receiving an infusion of creative vision from the Taurus mysteries. We are being invited to follow our craziest soul impulses, heedless of the consensus reality voices (shouting from the outside or even from within our own heads), and the many practical difficulties, as we bring to bear earthy Taurus’s famous stubbornness in the pursuit of beauty. Time to delight in unexpected juxtapositions, no matter how unlikely, confident in the inner knowing that they will somehow, someway, seed a more opulent New Earth reality in the unforeseeable but inevitable future.
Then, on July 20, Mars will enter the zodiac sign of Gemini, where he began his current synodic cycle journey so many months ago. This marks the beginning of Phase 5, maturity and elder knowledge, as Gemini overstory Mars integrates all he has learned. Like the Fool in the Tarot, he is returning to where he started, ideally as the wise Fool, seasoned and expanded by his initiation experiences.
Venus Passes Starting Degree
In a resonant timing, Venus is also passing a milestone related to the beginning of her synodic cycle last August, as she passes the same degree of Leo she inhabited at her heliacal rise, 16 Leo 38, on July 24. Let’s revisit this powerful degree, looking through John Sandbach’s kaleidoscopic lens.
“A giant squid sleeping in the ocean depths (Omega Symbol)
You need to go your own way and be your own person. Retreating into your interior life strengthens and nourishes you. You need to let go of feelings of alienation and embrace your uniqueness, which can be quite extreme. You have a tremendous amount to offer the world, but you need to find your own way to give it, and it needs to be given on your terms, not the world’s.
The Chandra Symbol for this degree is Elegant black ladies sitting on a porch and fanning themselves. The stately quality of this symbol seems like an exact opposite to the primal creature of the Omega Symbol. But within the black ladies lurk the mysterious and eternal female – the cosmic mother. They are hidden in the culture of their elegance just as the giant squid is hidden in the ocean depths. Refinement is their element, just as the sea is its element.
This symbol is about seeing through and beyond the outer. It is about returning to the true and real core of self, while being able to navigate the superficialities and trivialities of social, political and cultural realms. The giant squid is in its own domain, where it can be itself and thrive. The ladies may be in a difficult and hostile environment, but they carry their own domain and power within them and stay in tune with it, in spite of all outer appearances.”
Once again, we are being strongly pointed in the direction of acting from our own core beliefs. And that we must spend time in the stillness and quiet at the depths of our being if we are to fuel this process. It is imperative that we continue to anchor ourselves in the essential knowing our journey through the underworld has brought, if we are to bring to light the gifts we uncovered in the pregnant dark of the light-blinded journey around the Sun. A world sorely in need is awaiting the balm of our heartfelt creativity and dearly earned wisdom.