Tag Archives: Underworld

Venus in the Underworld

1 Reply
Parmigianino “Circe with the Companions of Ulysses”, ca. 1527 Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The planet Venus follows a mystical course through the skies, which has been interpreted in various ways by ancient cultures around the world. It’s important right now, because this weekend was one of the most powerful moments of her cycle. Last Saturday, January 8th, Venus was perfectly conjunct the Sun at 19 Capricorn. This is a key moment, because this represents Venus “in the underworld”.

The Venus cycle begins when she appears as the evening star; visible high in the West above the horizon at Sunset. This happened last Fall – in October/November 2021. I remember seeing her during my evening walks. When she reached her highest point, she turned retrograde (moved backwards), and began a slow descent towards the Sun. Every evening she appeared a little lower in the sky, until January 3rd when she disappeared in the fires of the Sun.

When the Sun and Venus are conjunct, the Sun is simply too bright for Venus to be seen. Because Venus disappears, she is said to enter the “underworld”. It’s called an “inferior conjunction”, meaning the planet Venus is between the Sun and the Earth. This is an important phase! Let your life mirror the cycle of Venus. Go inward and disolve yourself. Release limitations, and prepare for a rebirth. While Venus is traveling through the Underworld, each of us can undergo our own deep, personal transformation, and it’s happening right now.

After her meeting with the Sun, Venus continues through the underworld. She finally rises in the East, in the pre-dawn sky, about a week later. At this moment, she is reborn as the Morning Star, or Lucifer the “light bearer”, and becomes the herald of a new path. In our current cycle, she emerges on January 15th completely transformed.

Venus will be the morning star from January 15th to February 4th. When she reappears, each of us is reborn as a warrior. It’s a powerful burst of youthful, feminine energy, and we can pursue what we really want. We emerge renewed and revitalized.

For now however, each of us is in a cocoon, reshaping ourselves. You may be feeling yourself going through a lot of changes. We are letting go of old relationships, possessions, ideals, fantasies and attitudes. It’s a deep, personal, inner transformation through inner fire. Take some time for yourself this week. Spend some time alone… in solitude. Rebirth yourself with creativity, beauty and harmony. With Pluto nearby, this adds up to a period of deep evolution for each of us.

Hecate

1 Reply
hecate


As we have entered the Fall season and October, I’d like to share with you these great writings on the powerful goddess Hecate, Queen of the Witches.

“HEKATE (Hecate), Greek goddess of the crossroads, magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts, and necromancy, guardian of the household, and protector of everything newly born — once a widely revered and influential goddess, the reputation of Hecate has been tarnished over the centuries. In current times, she is usually depicted as a “hag” or old witch stirring the cauldron.
But nothing could be further from the image of Hecate’s original glory.
A beautiful and powerful goddess in her own right, Hecate was the only one of the ancient Titans who Zeus allowed to retain their authority once the Olympians seized control. Zeus shared with Hecate, and only her, the awesome power of giving humanity anything she wished (or withholding it if she pleased).
A lover of solitude, Hecate was, like her cousin Artemis, a “virgin” goddess, unwilling to sacrifice her independent nature for the sake of marriage.
Usually classified as a “moon goddess”, her kingdoms were actually three-fold . . . the earth, sea, and sky. Having the power to create or withhold storms undoubtedly played a role in making her the goddess who was the protector of shepherds and sailors.
In her role as ‘Queen of the Night’ she was both honored and feared as the protectress of the oppressed and of those who lived “on the edge”.
It is hardly surprising that a woman who needed to make a trip alone at night would say a brief prayer to Hecate to seek her protection.” Secrets of the Occult

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/matauryn/2017/07/11/hekate-works-will/#kdaWcb6RHm1FMC8s.99

“I feel Hekate asks all of us to think and act in a titanic way. Though she works with us on a personal level her realms are so much vaster. I feel one of the biggest messages she’s delivered to me is that of going through your own personal abyss of shadows to find your own torch to lead you down your own path. Hekate as the Spirit of the World, asks us to think about our role upon the planet. What energies and actions are we allowing into our world? Which structures, paradigm…s and systematic forms of oppression need to be burned and not allowed to pass? What do we allow into our portals of reality upon this Earth to enhance it for all Her children? How are we in return, care-taking and guarding the planet we are an extension of? How are we going to put on our crown of sovereignty and decide what we allow and what we don’t allow upon our planet.

You may be thinking, Hecate is associated with dogs, but she is indeed also associated with cats. Ovid shares that when Princess Alcmene was pregnant with Hercules by Zeus, her servant Galinthias played a trick on Hera to ensure that Alcmene would successfully give birth without Hera thwarting it. Hera enraged turned Galinthias into a cat as punishment and sent her to the underworld where she served as a priestess of Hecate. Thus, black cats were considered omens of death, witchcraft, and the underworld due to their associations with Hecate.”