Guided by beauty & love
In liminal times, one needs a guide who is at home with this transitional landscape. One such guide is Venus, the joy bringer.
"When we lose sight of beauty our struggle becomes tired and functional. When we expect and engage the Beautiful, a new fluency is set free within us and between us.
The heart becomes rekindled and our lives brighten with unexpected courage. It is courage that restores hope to the heart. …
There are secret sources of courage inside every human heart; yet courage needs to be awakened in us.
The encounter with the Beautiful can bring that awakening. Courage is a spark that can become the flame of hope, lighting new and exciting pathways in what seemed to be dead, dark landscapes."
- John O'Donohue
Saying no to dystopian thinking
I've been worried about the spread of apocalyptic, dystopian scenarios in our media and in everyday conversations with friends. There's a blanket of dread, often sprinkled with statements of how we humans are the viruses to this world. We've done the world wrong, and in true Christian guilt style, the immediate assumption that we deserve this mess. Woe is me; look what we've done to the world.
This has intensified since the start of the 33-year cycle of Saturn and Pluto in January 2020, both archetypes of death before the rebirth. So, four years in, we've been in the thick of ‘Dreadville.’
Not that we haven't done some questionable things, but the dystopian nihilistic despair isn't helping either because it shuts down our ability to imagine and create. I wish those in high positions would share widely what they're creating (i.e., Hollywood), show more of what can be done, and not yet another dystopian scenario of a world gone wrong. I'd let the Hunger Games type of stories and their minions starve on the cutting floor.
Dystopia's kryptonite: the liminal guidance of Venus
Mother Nature has been at her job for a very long time, and I don't think she'd allow us to grow and thrive all of these eons if there wasn't a purpose to our evolution. I don't subscribe to the idea that we're all an accident of a cold universe. I believe consciousness is woven into everything, and its telos is more consciousness and self-discovery. I may be wrong, which is fine, but I would rather go through life feeling that there's an unfolding story and I'm actively participating in it than being the victim of a blip in the cosmos.
If we were indeed not needed, Mother Nature would have wiped our asses off the Earth in no time. Our concerns about climate change aren't really about Mother Nature; she'll stick around and renew herself after we're gone; it's actually about our demise. But since we don't like to talk about death, we say we need to save Earth, but we need to save ourselves from the mind virus of how we see ourselves as separate from all that's around us.
So, all this hubbub boils down to our need to understand love. I know it sounds cheesy, but we have a whole lot of healing to do around our collective understanding of love. We have held an immature and ungrounded understanding of what love is and what it means to do what we love.
Love speaks to the presence of Venus, a liminal goddess that invokes change and transformation - an inevitable awakening because she brings things into relationship. Through her, we learn that all is a relationship: with ourselves, our work, and our place in this world/cosmos. She serves as our guide in understanding who we are, for she brings through her companion (and oft-considered her son) Eros the experience that we are worthwhile of pleasure and joy.
She awakens our senses; thus our desires, to be fully present in this world in both mind and body. She abhors haste and invites us to see ourselves through the mirror of another. However, our senses have been dulled culturally, and we've been in a wasteland when it comes to the topic of love and purpose.
On Venus' gifts
Venus reminds us that there's no culture, life, or even democracy without beauty. When Venus isn't present, Mars runs rampant in its ferocity to tear apart and take action, devoid of a sense of value and purpose. But when together, Venus and Mars work beautifully and effectively. Mars needs Venus to guide it, meaning it needs to have its action in relation to its affinities, beauty, joy, and the world around it.
This liminal goddess is the guide we need now, as collectively, we're leaving behind 'what was,' and the way towards 'what will be' is fogged up, and yet, we can only move forward because there's no return. Collectively, we've left the known, and only those nostalgic and fearful of complexity and ambiguity still hammer on their fundamentalist drums a return to the 'good old days.' It's a normal reaction because change is about liminality, which evokes a lot of anxiety. After all, as humans, we're contradictory in our need for the new and our resistance to change.
So, in these liminal times, we have a thing or two to learn from Venus and her gifts. One of them is to notice what attracts us and elicit our response. Remember that wherever there's beauty and the possibility of bringing things INTO a relationship, there she is.
As the archetypal goddess of relationships, she focuses on the invisible force of attraction, both contemplative and dynamic. She teaches us to observe patterns in relationships - not just interpersonal, but all types of relationships - and how we can bring things together.
Another gift she awards us is our AFFINITIES, which we're drawn to: our tastes, likes, and dislikes. She reminds us to honor these affinities because they serve as clues to what and how we may contribute something to the world with joy.
When it comes to connecting to your sense of purpose and meaning, Venus is there guiding you towards honoring what attracts you, along with your own 'special plumage,' your unique way of showing up in the world. Because when we honor Venus in our lives through our relationships with our affinities and joys, we GLOW from a place of love, leaving no space for the dystopian mind virus.
Let Venus open new doors for you
The ancients knew that a guide would always show up when we were crossing liminal times. We're not relegated to do it all alone, but we must be humble enough to notice. We must come down a peg from our 'raised by our bootstrings' and self-made delusions and widen our perspective to see how guides await our attention. Here's where the nihilistic, dystopian, and fundamentalist (i.e., meaning lacking in imagination) are shadow sides of our 'self-made' thinking. It takes away from being in relationship and in connection with what is all around us.
I can visualize Mother Nature doing the 'facepalm' a la Captain Picard in disbelief at how our society still clings to these delusions when all around, the other denizens of this world beckon our attention and want to be in a relationship with us.
As a liminal goddess, Venus, much like her companion Mercury, is comfortable at border times, in the margins of things, either day or night. She's always in betwixt and between places, in the moments where things are joined (i.e., day joining night = twilight) and making a union of the opposites.
Her very presence announces change and transformation and an inevitable awakening. Just think about how beauty stirs you and your imagination; that's Venus at work.
She also creates openings and challenges our ego to new experiences. She threatens the status quo through the eruption of the new, thus crossing stuck identities and societal norms.
No wonder she's considered dangerous because, through beauty, joy, and love, she acts as an alchemical goddess beckoning us to turn our gaze toward our pleasures and relationships.
She's unpredictable and keeps us nimble. Without her, our relationships become frigid and brittle, and our environment, sense of self, and our minds become ugly.
The world needs your joy - Honoring Venus in your life
"Aphrodite asks us to do when we commemorate her is not to seek the desire that destroys, but that unites, that pulls communities together, not apart. She is both the wound and the bandage."
- Bettany Hughes
Our joys and affinities are our Venusian gifts to the world. These are liminal times of collective paradigm shift, an 'all hands on deck' time, where no matter what our gift is, we're to bring it to the world. Think of this as a cosmic potluck, and whatever dish you have, bring it, even if it's a bag of chips.
Here are a few ways to honor our inner Venus, thus strengthening our relationship with her guidance.
Take stock of what you value: material, emotional, and intellectual. (Go around your home and make your list.)
Look for the 'joy spark' in your relationships, be it with your work, creativity, body, and community.
Look to your relationship with money—another realm of Venus (i.e., where you spend and invest in your accounts/accounting, wallet, etc.) Don't just spend with intention; also notice the relationship you are establishing with that service/person.
How are you showing up to that relationship?Lastly, remember that Venus is about beauty, and your relationship with money, others, and life needs to have a certain aesthetic element and balance.
How can you bring beauty and joy into these areas of your life?Another way to harmonize with Venus is to focus on your relationships—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Take stock of what is being reflected back to you.
Beautify your environment. Some Venusian elements are flowers (roses, especially). Use vibrant colors, especially green or gold(en), as those were colors attributed to Venus.
Practice ‘joy spotting' to train your eyes to see what sparks your joy. It's a way to 'un-dull' your ability to see.
Enjoy what you eat, not just wolf it down or choose something because it's the 'healthy option.' Savor your food with gusto - be present for your body's needs and desires.
Remember that Venus is an alchemical goddess par excellence, so it is important to engage in your relationship with her with a vision of transformation, not just ‘quid pro quo.’
Do physical activities that are pleasurable to your body. For example, perhaps don't run, but take a stroll and admire the beauty around you.
Caution - Venus can be overindulgent and indolent. Notice when laziness is more of an excuse rather than a real connection with your inner Venus.
These are just some ideas to get you started in honoring this liminal goddess in your life. As each of us, few as we may be, build our relationships with the unseen realms, we're effectively helping "tilt the direction we're going in" (Jean Shinoda Bolen).
How shall you honor Venus in your life? Drop me a line in the comments.
Calling on my Portland, Oregon folks
If you're in Portland, Oregon, join us on Tuesday, May 28, for this month's installment of The Wheel of Myth & Sound Journeying.
Life’s sweetness and meaning are often delivered through our joys and pleasures.
The busyness of our ways of living dims our ability to recognize and connect to what makes our lives sweeter and worth living.
As the flowers bloom around us, it’s time to remember beauty’s joy and healing powers.
For this month’s theme, we will be guided by the beautifully capricious bringer of joy: Aphrodite/Venus.
For more information and to sign up, click here.
Want to take this relationship beyond your inbox? Let’s work together, blending astrology and coaching to help you get unstuck and move forward.
