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The morning I started this post, I not only saw Mars below and to the right of Venus, but Mercury as well! I almost never see Mercury, but there it was below and to the left of Venus, which is SO BRIGHT (it reached its brightest phase on February 9). Both Mercury and Mars remained visible even as the sky brightened and the other stars faded. At my latitude, Mercury climbed to its highest point in the sky on February 8-9 and gets farthest from the sun on February 16. So, this a good time to see it in northern mid-latitudes, and you will continue to have good opportunities to see it for another few weeks depending on your location! In places like Hawaii, it is even more visible the whole month of February, 2022.
Venus and the Moon in the Morning Sky
From New Moon through Waxing and past Full, the moon is either invisible or a feature primarily of the evening sky. As it wanes, it will become a more prominent feature of the predawn sky. At Last Quarter, its half-circle shape stands high in the sky at dawn, and each morning that week before sunrise, you’ll see it farther East as it wanes down to a thinner and thinner crescent before meeting with the Morning Star.
The dramatic alignment of the Star and Crescent impressed itself upon the minds of ancient humans and forms the basis for many myths. It repeats this alignment every month until the end of summer. Then, Venus drops to the horizon and disappears into the sun’s glare for a little more than two months from September 14 to December 1, 2022 when it rises again, this time in the evening sky. The Moon-Venus alignments are easiest to see this month and next, so take the opportunity to go out in the morning before sunrise to see them–while sunrise is still at a reasonable hour (lol) and Venus is high and brilliant above the horizon.
2022 Venus-Moon Alignments
January 29, 2022, 10:08 pm EST (1st Gate ,Crown, 11°05′ Capricorn)
- View January 29 with invisible Mars ~6 am to 7:20 am (or until sunrise your location)
- February 9, 2022 Venus at its brightest (-4.6 mag)
- February 21-23, 2022 Venus at its highest elevation (in Northern mid-latitudes; use this tool to find the date for your location).
February 27, 2022, 4:05 am EST (2nd Gate, Brow, 24°18′ Capricorn)
- View February 27 with Mars and invisible Pluto ~5 am to 6:40 am (or until sunrise your location)
- March 20, 2022 Venus at its greatest elongation or separation from the sun.
March 28, 2022, 9:48 am EDT (3rd Gate, Throat, 21°29′ Aquarius)
- View March 28 with Saturn and Mars ~5 am to 6:50 am (or until sunrise your location)
April 27, 2022, 12:48 am EDT (4th Gate, Heart, 23°47′ Pisces)
- View April 26-27 with Jupiter and invisible Neptune ~4:30 to 6 am (or until sunrise your location). By now, many planets will be visible in the morning sky, and Mars will be near the Moon on the 26th, with Saturn higher above them.
May 26, 2022, 11:00 pm EDT (5th Gate, Solar Plexus, 28°15′ Aries)
- View with invisible Chiron, Mars and Jupiter side-by-side above them, and Saturn overhead May 26 ~3:45 am to 5:30 am (or until sunrise your location). Some people may be able to see the closer alignment on the morning of May 27.
June 26, 2022, 3:03 am EDT (6th Gate, Sacral, 03°53′ Gemini)
- View June 26 ~3:30 to 5:30 am (or until sunrise your location). Mercury below and to the left will probably be invisible although Stellarium shows it visible for me in Virginia. In fact, all the planets, including easily visible Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, will be above the horizon at this time. And the Moon and Venus will shine below the Pleiades and above the red star Aldebaran in the constellation The Bull.
July 26, 2022, 10:54 Am EDT (7th, Root, 10°20′ Cancer)
- View July 26, 2022 ~5-5:30 am or before sunrise in your location.
August 25, 2022, 7:50 pm EDT (8th, Shamanic, 17°26′ Leo)
- View August 24-25 ~5am to 6:20 am (or until sunrise your location). The Moon will be at 3% on the morning of August 25, so check it out on the 24th just in case you can’t see it in your location on the 25th. I keep hoping to see the finest fingernail moon hanging above Venus. Pray for clear skies and find a low Eastern horizon!
Whether or not we can see a Moon-Venus conjunction, we count it astrologically so long as Venus is more than 10 degrees away from the sun when the Moon passes it. I keep imagining one of those huge thinnest fingernail of a moon limning the Star, for what Shamanic Astrology calls Venus’ (Shamanic) Death by Intent initiation. Normally there are only seven alignments. We did have eight morning and evening alignments in 2020-2021, and there will be eight evening sky alignments in 2023. But they aren’t that common. I don’t know the statistical prevalence of back-to-back Venus cycles with 8 Gates–I’m bookmarking that question for Daniel (Giamario)! See all the dates in the Venus Cycle for 2022-2023 here.
The Mythic Moon
Different mythologies and astrological tradition assign different meanings to the phases of the moon. Shamanic Astrology has aligned these with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, creating a map or template which I think works quite nicely. I don’t know exactly who gets the attribution for that work and whether it was original to Shamanic Astrology or part of the zeitgeist of the times during which much of the groundwork was laid, but I have a handout with the title “The Hero or Heroine’s Quest: Adapted by Carolyn Brent from The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell” that dates from 2003. Carolyn Brent is now Cayelin Castell, co-founder with Daniel Giamario of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School (SAMS). I only say all this because I have heard newcomers on the scene working with this idea, as well as with the Venus Cycle, and not always giving credit to any source. So I try to give credit where I can because I think this is an important part of the ethics of operating in community and it’s certainly the ethic that operates in academia, where I have roots.
The Call to Adventure
Even though Venus in the morning sky meets the waning crescent moon, let’s start with the waxing crescent. This marks the beginning of the lunar cycle and its mythic associations are so fun! Shamanic Astrology lines up the First Crescent Moon with the Call to Adventure in Joseph Campbell’s heroic cycle, when the hero is called to undertake the quest. Maybe the dragon is eating the kingdom and he needs to slay it, or Cinderella is invited to the ball and decides to go with the help of mice, a pumpkin, and a fairy godmother. The magical helper is a feature of this phase, be it the fairy godmother, the toad in the well, or the wise wizard who helps the knight unlock his sword. Sometimes the adventure comes as a surprise, like the old man with Jack’s beans, or a talking beast in the forest who gives you an amulet for what purpose you have no idea yet. Sometimes it comes as a mysterious stranger dressed as a beggar. One of my favorites is the street beggar from The Golden Child (Eddie Murphy’s 1986 classic) who eats his boogers and yells at our hero. Turns out he’s not just a monk in disguise, but the very abbot of the monastery whose help our hero needs. He’s someone else important too! (But not all spoilers will be spilled here). Here is a fun breakdown of the archetypal themes, albeit framed as “tropes.”
The Elixir of Knowledge
When Venus meets the Moon in the Morning Sky, it is waning, coming to the end of the Hero’s Quest. Whatever adventure or boon or victory has been achieved is now well and over, and the moon is distilling its gifts. In the heroic journey, this is The Elixir of Knowledge and Gifts for Humanity phase, a time to harvest the alchemized fruits in preparation for the next Call to Adventure. Even if the journey is just a monthly one, there’s still a small developmental cycle to digest and move forward with. The moon’s wisdom here is old, experienced. “Yeah, they be dragons over that way, or yeah, you might want to think twice about that venture.”
Mythic Venus
As we explored in Reflections on Venus, Morning Star, Venus is many things: the Goddess, the Herald of the Light, the anima, or as I’m holding it now, the integrated body-spirit that is one’s being. Venus’ journey through the morning sky is interpreted a number of ways, but always with an eye to its eventual disappearance with the sun. Those cultures which had a strong experience of the negative dimensions of the subsequent Underworld phase when Venus moves to the other side of the sun from us, saw these interactions with the Moon in largely negative ways. And indeed, Shamanic Astrology has always framed the Morning Star phase as one of trials, tests, losses, and a stripping away process. Venus is pictured as an Amazon Warrior Goddess on the warpath. So too has Shamanic Astrology’s conception of the Underworld process always emphasized the painful aspects: an ego death that cuts deeply and forces a real surrender. In the myth of Inanna, she is dead, hanging on a meathook, rotting. This isn’t pretend or a feel-good retreat. Attempts to sidestep or avert the process usually fail pathetically and Ereshkiegel is laughing at you with maggots in her mouth.
New Visions for the Morning Star
I’m dreaming into these encounters as something like a meeting with the Old Crone. An archetypally wise and experienced set of knowledge is transmitted to the Goddess or the Bearer of the Light or simply to your being. Perhaps Venus’ refusal to listen or failure to understand these transmissions has direct bearing upon the subsequent Underworld experience. Maybe through conscious strategy during the Morning Star phase, we can determine whether Venus rises from the Underworld (as the Evening Star) into a higher octave of consciousness or returns for another round of more of the same–that is, whether it is a vicious or a virtuous cycle. Either way, there does seem to be an unavoidable quality to the demand in the Underworld to surrender. Even a true master wouldn’t expect it to be a picnic.
Alchemy
I am sure that Jesus didn’t enjoy his day on the cross. But he forged a powerful unity by facing a terrible crisis and bearing it with unyielding submission. Sometimes there are things that require we go beyond the mind and imagination, to lay everything on the line, and to demonstrate our consciousness by holding to our principles during crisis. The alchemy we create by doing that is ours forever. The Venus cycle offers one way to understand that.
But How Do I Use the Venus Cycles with My Own Transits and Birth Chart?
If you’re turning a multiple of 8 during the 2022-2023 Venus Cycle, you are in a Venus Return and these cycles will be VERY important to you. Whether or not this is true, you can find alignments between points in your chart and the Venus Gates (exact same sign and degree, or within 1-2 degrees). The most important points would be the two times when Venus was aligned exactly conjunct the Sun: at the beginning of the cycle at 18°43′ Capricorn and at the heart of the Underworld phase at 29°26′ Libra. As a note, a conjunction with 29°26′ Libra could be in early degrees Scorpio, though a conjunction across sign boundaries always has a blended effect. Ultimately, all alignments with points during the cycle have information which can help frame the experience.
Figuring out which Venus Gate you were born during is a little more laborious and requires an ephemeris or something for tracking the full cycle into which you were born. But the essential interpretations for each gate is the same whether you’re looking at it natally or interpreting the current transits:
Morning Gates
- Crown – Consciousness, often the forehead slap type, but also awareness and and presence in the world as a conscious being
- Brow – Vision and insight
- Throat – Voice and self-expression
- Heart – Love
- Solar Plexus – Will center, gut knowing
- Sacral – Belly, womb, creative output, pleasure
- Root – Life (in this case, death), survival, belonging
- Shamanic – Death by Intent
Evening Gates
Themes of reclamation, winning back, or receiving in these areas:
- Root – Life (in this case, brought back to life), survival, belonging
- Sacral – Belly, womb, creative output, pleasure
- Solar Plexus – Will center, gut knowing
- Heart – Love
- Throat – Voice and self-expression
- Brow – Vision and insight
- Crown – Consciousness, often the forehead slap type, but also awareness and and presence in the world as a conscious being
- Cosmic Consciousness – Incorporating the bigger picture
If you don’t have a birth chart, you can cast one for free at astro.com. Or you can email me at katy at katymorikawa.com – if I’m not too busy, I can cast your chart for you. Who knows? Maybe I’ll send you a voice memo with a little off-the-cuff interpretation, and you can throw me a donation at PayPal.
You can also schedule a reading. I have an agreement with the universe that if the person whose chart I read asks for it, I’ll give the reading. You can email me to ask about prices and all the rest.
Resources
- 2022-2023 Venus Cycle (pdf) – dates and times with links to charts of the key points in this Venus cycle
- Astro.com – free natal charts and more https://www.astro.com/.
- In-the-Sky.org – free skywatching guides and astronomy. Check out the Night Sky feed for upcoming events.
- Narrative Tropes. TV Tropes website https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NarrativeTropes
- Stellarium web – free online sky visualizer https://stellarium-web.org/
