by Daniel Giamario | March 2, 2025 |
The current alignments and movements of Venus are quite remarkable and utterly unique! On Saturday, March 1, at 4:36PM PST, Venus reached her stationary retrograde point at 10Aries50rx, and just hours later, at 7:26PM PST, the Moon exactly reached conjunction with Venus. Only 14% of the population have Venus retrograde and the least percentage of any retrograde.
The Sumerian Inanna Mythos
In the understanding of the Venus 584-day synodic Overstory that I first developed in 1997, Venus always has at least seven conjunctions with the Moon during the 260 days as morning star, and again in the 260 days as evening star. Although, based on the Sumerian Inanna (Venus) mythos which tells how Inanna at seven gates first relinquishes and then gains back her vestments, others had proposed this storyline to correspond with seven chakras, to my knowledge I was the first in the astronomical community who drew the link to the seven visible Moon-Venus conjunctions. I had been inspired by a little-known book called “Star Trek to Hawaii” by astronomer Clyde Hostetter, who purported this idea.
An Eighth Gate?
Having extensively worked with the Venus – and Mars and Mercury – synods since the late 1990s, it soon became evident that there frequently are eight Moon-Venus conjunctions as well. Our continuing inquiry has been wondering what to make of this eighth one? The Moon-Venus conjunction of March 1/2 is such an eighth! Or is it?
Over the years, based on our research and direct experiences, we have proposed that the morning star descending eighth gate be called “Death by Intent.” This follows the loss of the first chakra vestment at the seventh Moon-Venus conjunction. I have shared elsewhere the remarkable events that led to that designation, and how we have been ceremonially implementing it. But what about the eighth Moon-Venus conjunction on Venus’ evening star ascent? Currently we are terming this gate “Awareness by Intent”. Going beyond the crown chakra gate of the seventh conjunction (February 1, 2025), we propose that the time from the eighth gate until Venus, descent into the interior underworld (around March 16) is the most important time to actively intend to expand awareness as far as possible. Strong action and commitment to this end is certainly amplified by the Aries signature, within the Leo Overstory.
Venus’ Heliacal Rise
Venus will arise heliacally on the mornings of March 28 and 29, near the times of the Aries New Moon and the partial Solar eclipse of March 29, and the Moon-Venus conjunction on March 28 at 12:17pm PDT. The chart of that cosmic moment is truly remarkable:
- Moon and Venus are conjunct at 29Pisces10
- Neptune is at 29Pisces56
- and the North Node is 27Pisces25.
- Mercury is just barely rising from the interior underworld,
- with Venus, at 0Aries59Rx.
- Saturn at 24Pisces11 is also just appearing in the morning sky from an underworld sojourn.
There is a debate raging in the synodic cycle community as to whether this new Venus cycle, the so-called “starpoint”, is Aries or Pisces. For many reasons, TOTAMS is clear that it’s Pisces, and Venus’ first time starting her cycle there in over 100 years. Our primary reasoning is that, just as every ancient culture would have perceived it, it is Venus’ heliacal rise that starts the cycle, NOT the abstract, invisible Sun-Venus conjunction. There could also be a debate about whether this weekend is an eighth gate. The usual criterion for an actual gate is that they are not numbered before Venus turns direct or after she turns retrograde. In this case the retrograde happens mere hours before the exact Moon-Venus conjunction. However, both debates can be resolved using the visibility criterion AND the use of ceremonial numbers.
The Sumerians considered the heliacal rise closest to the March Equinox, which was their New Year, to be the most important of the five kinds of Venus synods, and their major ceremonial happened every eight years. It is this configuration that is about to unfold shortly.
Mayans, Sumerians and Babylonians used a ceremonial timing of 7 or 8 days for Venus’ disappearance in the interior underworld, when moving between Earth and Sun. The modern application of this is the practical use of a 10-degree orb to reliably mark the times when Venus both disappears into the glare of the Sun and subsequently heliacally rises, thus can be seen in the sky.
It has been reported by Gemini Brett and others that in this specific Venus synod, with conscious intent and particularly from far Northern latitudes, the opportunity is presented to see Venus far longer in the evening sky, and then rising much sooner than March 29. For individual ceremonial purposes, this may be significant, but I still feel the more generalized ceremonial number of days to be useful and historically meaningful. See my seminal 1997 article in Mountain Astrologer where I noted:
“Throughout history, traditional cultures frequently use idealized numbers for ceremony. This is reminiscent of Robert Hand’s comment at Project Hindsight when he suggested that the power and workability of astrology is not increased by sophisticated computing or even the knowledge of precise astronomical cycles, but rather a reduction to simple whole idealized numbers.”
I also strongly feel that this is indeed an eighth gate. For US West Coast observers, the exact conjunction on Saturday evening is really exact. In Asia, where I am, exactitude occurs mid-day on Sunday, and is closest that evening. Although the onset of retrograde did indeed happen before the Moon-Venus conjunction, from an observational perspective, the most important criterion in my view is that Moon and Venus were visible close to each other in the evening sky before the retrograde, within a 10 degree orb. As outlined above, that is what opens a gate/portal – NOT the exact conjunction.
Venus Intent: Open Up Our Awareness
Wherever you may come down on these considerations, without question Venus’ intent is to open up our awareness. These next weeks leading up to
- the Equinox and the end of Kali Yuga
- followed by the heliacal rise of both Venus and Mercury
- and the ingress of Neptune into Aries
promises to to wild and unpredictable.
May Venus as a gateway to expanded awareness open our connection to Grace, Mercy and Divine Providence, as we increase our actional commitment to remain Pure Humans, with an intact connection to Spirit, Soul and Heart.
Our Equinox seminars are all about Venus and Mars, the next Group Mentoring is focused on Venus, and TOTAMS will also be starting a new 19-month “Sacred Journeys of Venus and Mars” group experience on March 28. I look forward to seeing you at any or all of these seminars!