SIDEREAL ROSE
The Cosmic Dance Between Venus and the Earth
© Xavier de la Huerga 2023
Venus is the closest planet to Earth, not just in terms of distance, but in size similarity. So much so, that some consider Venus the Earth´s "planetary twin". Out of its orbital period and that of the Earth, arises an exquisite harmonic relationship in the shape of a pentagonal pattern, suggestive of what we could call a rose of hearts; an elegant spatial configuration where two universal symbols of beauty and love appear intertwined. Hence, it is suggested that more than a twin pairing, the relationship between Earth and Venus is that of lovers.
.jpg) |
| The orbital pattern generated by Venus, from a geocentric perspective. Ilustration by James Ferguson from his book Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles (1756). |
What we can see in the two images above and below this paragraph, is the pattern created by the synodic cycle of Venus from a geocentric viewpoint. The 5 central loops (marked by pink dots in the image below) describe the moments of maximum proximity between Earth and Venus; the so-called inferior conjunctions. While the 5 points where the lines touch the external perimeter of this floral mandala (in green), depict the moments of maximum distance, or superior conjunctions. It takes Venus 8 years to draw this figure, during which it goes around the Sun 13 times. As we have seen in Part II of this series of articles, 5, 8 and 13 are members of the Fibonacci series; a numerical expression of Phi.
 |
| Venus' orbital pattern, computer generated graphics. Inferior conjunctions are marked in pink and superior ones in green. (Image from A Little Book of Coincidences. Copyright John Martineau 2001) |
Let's remember here that the two flowers traditionally assigned to the goddess Venus are the rose and myrtle, both with double pentagonal geometry since they have 5 petals and 5 sepals. (All roses possess 5 petals originally*, it's only when hybridising naturally or for the creation of cultivar varieties that pistils and stamens mutate, becoming petals and resulting in the popular ornamental roses that nowadays can reach up to 100 petals). *Rosa Sericea is the only exception, with four petals.
The rose is without doubt the most archetypal, mystical and mythical of all flowers. It comes down through time surrounded by a perfumed aura of mystery, appearing in the traditions of gnosticism, sufism, alchemical and hermetic emblems, the Roman festival of Rosalia, the Christian Holy Rosary, as symbol of the Rosicrucian Order, in the science of heraldry, or in the ancient latin expression "sub rosa", that was used to denote the highest secrecy.
 |
| Myrtle flowers Rosa Canina Heraldic Rose Rosycross |
The more than 3,000 species in the botanical family rosaceae include not only roses, but many of the most appreciated fruits, such as strawberry, pear, blackberry, plum, cherry and many others. But only one among them enjoys a comparable status to the rose in as much fame, mythical renown and for being a symbol consecrated to Venus Aphrodite and to the feminine principle. This is the apple, a fruit with a "genealogical tree" that goes back to the biblical Genesis, with a reputation that grants it the power to bestow both immortality and death, together with divine knowledge of good and evil, upon those who eat from it. Interestingly, its seeds are arranged in the shape of a pentagram.
 | |
|
The apple; a fruit predestined to an allegorical relationship with the force of gravity. First, in provoking the Fall from Grace and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Thousands of years later, through its own fall upon Newston´s head, triggering the eureka moment that instigates the birth of the scientific rationalism paradigm; kick-starting the mad rush for the Industrial Revolution, the desacralisation of reality and the process of ecological destruction bound to reach its climax during our dysfunctional age.
This fruit, forbidden to mortals and giver of eternal youth to the gods, not only appears as a central element in various mythological narratives related to Venus Aphrodite (Hesperides Garden, Atalanta and Melanion, Helen of Troy), it is also found in other cultural contexts; in Arthurian romances and fairy tales, Nordic sagas and cosmogonies, Celtic and Caucasian traditions... Always orbiting around feminine archetypes: Kore, Idun, Freya, Sin, Persephone...
The Venus Octave
Returning to the astronomy and to the harmonious geometry danced in space by Venus, we are going to see next that the Rose of Hearts can also be represented as a series of ten points symmetrically placed over two concentric circles in relation to the ecliptic or zodiacal band.
By connecting those ten points, two pentagrams are formed, as we can see in the image below, although this is only an approximation. In reality, the two pentagrams formed by Venus are not perfectly symmetrical. The point in space where Venus arrives to its eleventh conjunction doesn't close perfectly the double pentagram, but instead gives rise to a new sequence of ten points, which means that the two pentagrams slowly rotate along the ecliptic, at a speed of roughly two degrees every eight years. This open-ended progression is comparable to what occurs in the progression of a musical octave, whose last note is in fact the first note of the next octave. Continuing with this musical analogy, the period for the double pentagram of Venus to fully revolve around the zodiac is twelve centuries and there are twelve notes in an octave (seven whole tones and five semitones).
 |
| The double pentagonal geometry created by the conjunctions of Venus in regard to the zodiac. This image shows the next conjunctions in Leo, Gemini, Aries, Capricorn and Scorpio. Point number one marks the inferior conjunction on 6th June 2012 in Gemini; point number two marks the superior conjunction on 28th March 2013 in Aries, etc. |
The harmonics of Venus with number five are not limited to the pentagram and the rose. From remote antiquity, the fifth day of the week was dedicated to Venus; Friday's etymology comes from Freya's day. Freya is the goddess that in northern European mythologies equates Venus. Spanish and French languages also keep that memory alive in their calendars since their words for Friday (viernes and vendredi) come from latin 'veneres', which is the etymological root of Venus. A further resonance is found in the cycle of twelve centuries during which the two pentagrams complete a full revolution around the zodiac, since there are five solar transits of Venus during this 1,200 year cycle.
Octaeteris: Venus, Sun and Moon
The cycles of Venus, Sun and Moon become synchronised after a period of eight years (with a small discrepancy of around one day), during which ninety-nine lunations and five synodic cycles of Venus happen. For example, on the 5th November 2005 the lunar crescent and Venus appeared in close conjunction just after sunset in the sign of Saggitarius. Eight years later, the same crescent Moon and Venus are seen again in close proximity in the same region of the sky right after sunset on the 6th November 2013 (that is, just one day difference). This astonishing coincidence between the solar year, the lunar phases and the synodic cycle of Venus was taken advantage of for calendrical use since very ancient times.
Within this eight year cycle, known as the octaeteris in the Greek world, the double pentagon structure described by Venus in its orbit leads naturally to its subdivision into two shorter cycles of four years each. It is this bipartition of the octaeteris that determined the four year sequence of the Olympiads. And since this cycle was sacred to Aphrodite, its celebration was imbued with her archetypal attributes; resulting in the conciliatory, concordant, harmonious character that Olympic Games have always promoted; during which truces were decreed, prisoners released and all disputes banned. Nowadays, this four year cycle, although its astro-mythological origin is forgotten, is still in use through the celebration of the Olympic Games and other sports competitions, as well as political elections and the duration of presidential mandates, etc.
.jpg) |
| The Vitruvian Woman. © Xavier de la Huerga 2007-2023 |
Summmary and Interpretation
Let's stop here to recap and obtain a glimpse of the greater picture.
Once the impurities that time and man have attached to the original meaning of these symbols and archetypes are removed, a dense web of correspondences and reciprocities starts to emerge. The metaphor of Indra´s Net comes to mind, a net that extends throughout the universe with jewels hanging at every junction of the threads - an infinite cosmic cobweb covered in star dew drops - . On the surface of every single jewel a reflection of all the other jewels and in every reflection a further reflection of the whole. Throughout the entire Cosmos, Venus, the Golden Ratio, phyllotaxis and roses, apples and pentagrams, planetary orbits, galactic spirals... a beautiful infinite tapestry, tracery and knot-work without beginning or end... Microcosm in Macrocosm.
What is the meaning of this fascinating cluster of correspondences and complementary connections? Can it all be attributed to serendipity, coincidence and random chance? Or is there some other organizational principle in the universe that must be taken into account in our description of reality?
This is the time to introduce a concept that depth psychology founder Carl Jung called synchronicity, defining it as "a coincidence of events that are related meaningfully between them, yet lack a causal connection". This definition can be expanded to include the occurrence of events not just in time, but in geometric and astronomical space and within the archetypal-mythical dimensions pertaining to consciousness. This is what we witness when we look back at all the acausal correlations, common themes and multi-dimensional correspondences explored in this succinct three-part article.
But we will have to leave this discussion until the publication of Rooted in the Sky, when the development of these ideas within a much broader context will allow for a better understanding of the far-reaching implications. Once there, we will probe into the relationship of the synchronicity principle to both the holographic nature of the Cosmos and the function of consciousness as an integral element of the equation that defines reality.
We must now go on with the journey to the heart of Venus. The heartbeats are already audible.
Initiation into Appplied Astrogeomancy courses in Spain.
Ecoaldea Los Portales, Sevilla. December 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment