Monthly Vedic Astrology Forecast

New Moon, Heliacal Rise of Venus November 4

As October becomes November, we truly begin our descent into darkness, moving steadily toward the winter solstice, at least if we live in the northern hemisphere. The sign of Libra sees an abundance of activity this month. The heliacal rising of Venus, ruler of Libra, will occur in this sign this month. I spoke a bit about Venus last month, and upon request from a reader, I shall explore Venus' cycle a bit more this month, which is apropos considering the interesting conjunction of planets, including Venus, on November 4. This is the day of the New Moon this month, and we will have the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus within the same Sun sign, Libra.

The phases of Venus' 584-day synodic cycle were observed by ancient cultures and over time given meanings that have become mythological to the modern mind. "Synodic cycle" denotes a period of time demarked by the conjunction of two celestial bodies, in this case, the Sun and Venus. The beginning of Venus' cycle is the inferior conjunction of the Sun and Venus, when Venus is between the Earth and the Sun. This always happens during Venus' retrograde cycle. Because Venus orbits the Sun inside the path of the Earth's orbit, from our point of view as earthly sky-gazers, Venus is never too far from the Sun in our sky. (This is even more so the case with Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.) Therefore, Venus could never be opposite to the Sun in the zodiac. During this inferior conjunction, Venus' energy and influence astrologically is absorbed into and overwhelmed by that of the Sun. The retrograde motion of Venus carries her through her merging with the Sun and out the other side; this encounter transforms Venus from being the evening star into being the morning star, when she rises in the east before the Sun, hence the term "heliacal rising" of Venus. Check out this interesting short article about the Mesoamerican mythology of Venus' cycle for more information.

The last time Venus' heliacal rising occurred in Libra was in November 1994, and before that in November of 1986. Venus essentially holds to an eight-year cycle in this way, performing her transformation from morning to evening star in the same position of the zodiac at this interval. This is all interesting, but the real question is this: What does it all mean? In the last couple of forecasts, I have made references to Venus' current position being able to facilitate a move toward peace in our personal and worldwide situation. The heliacal rising of Venus that is occurring at the beginning of November, which is coincident with the elections in the US, may usher in any actual growth of peace and harmony that may occur. If all of the people that say they want peace actually begin to make it in their own lives, with every choice that they make, then we would be closer to sharing peace. But as we found out as a culture during the 1960's, the way to spread the message of peace and harmony among all humans is not to separate yourself from society, refuse to participate, and hope that everybody else begins to feel the love and get into the groove. Rather, for the principle of peace to proliferate, true acceptance of others, including those in your family, city, country, hemisphere, and entire cosmos, a Venusian quality, is a necessary ingredient.

This could be the point at which this new paradigm of peace is born. Venus is the planet of harmony and rules the principles of sharing, relating, love, and beauty, and will be "reborn" from her encounter with the Sun. The Sun, our daystar, is so powerful and hot, that it burns away any history that Venus may have accrued during her last trip through the zodiac. So, the heliacal rising of Venus, the beginning phase of a new cycle, can be looked at somewhat like Botticelli may have envisioned Venus, arriving newly naked from the sea, which holds the power of Venus (according to the Hindus), borne to shore on the breath of the west wind upon a spiny heart cockle in a shower of roses. Check out The Birth of Venus by Boticelli. Venus rules comfort, luxury, and beauty, the first three things to go when war is waged. In general, I'd say most creatures prefer an environment of growth, natural beauty, and love, yet oddly enough many beings on Earth find themselves increasingly in environments of hatred, sickness, and land bereft of abundance. This is the imbalance that we are experiencing, and allowing Venus energy into your consciousness will help to create a state of balance not only in yourself, but also in the world.

The New Moon on November 4th occurs in Venus' sign of Libra and is also attended by Venus and Mercury. In the same way that the heliacal rising of Venus signals a rebirth of Venus' power, so does the New Moon each month give rebirth to the power of the Moon. The Sun has power over any planet when it is combust the Sun, however, Libra is the sign of the Sun's debility, meaning that the Sun is at his nadir of power while passing through Libra. In my opinion, this gives the Sun a chance to have a bit of a new start as well. This configuration seems to bring the powers of these planets (Sun, Moon, and Venus) to a certain level of mutual understanding, and always wanting above all for others to like him, Mercury joins his rather flexible energy to this meeting. Please note that these four planets move the most quickly across the sky as we observe throughout the year. If this conjunction is in fact some kind of planetary peace summit, these swift planets will serve to bring this newly born energy to the other sectors of the zodiac.

This conjunction/peace summit occurs in Libra, and more specifically within the lunar mansion of Swati, which occupies the degrees of the zodiac between 6°40' and 20°00' Libra. Swati means "the sword" and is depicted as a single shoot blowing in the wind, showing the qualities of independence and flexibility. Swati is ruled by the god Vayu, the lord of the wind, air, and breath. Vayu represents the principle of movement that fills the universe and scatters the seeds that give rise to life. Swati is also ruled by the shadow planet Rahu, which is airy in nature and represents the force that draws us into the world and connects us with the masses. So, Swati being the meeting ground for the planetary peace summit may serve to nourish the meeting with the power to communicate and influence others, to spread the seeds of peace in the wind. On a cautionary note, Swati's penchant for movement can sometimes cause restlessness, and the tendency to scatter things can lead to destructive behavior. The tricks to maximizing Swati's gifts include finding a constructive way to remove negativity (don't throw the baby out with the bath water) and learning to detach from material and sensory attachments (be in the world but not of the world). Swati represents a place of very worldly energy and desires, so perhaps this is good ground to begin a new attempt at finding balance in our world.

Full Moon in Scorpio November 20

Rarely do old paradigms give in without a fight. The Full Moon this month falls on November 20. The Moon will be exalted in Taurus, which is great, but it will be in the same house as Rahu, the shadow planet (and eclipse point) that has the power to swallow the energy of the Moon. The Sun, in the opposition as usual during the Full Moon, will be in Scorpio, in the same sign with Ketu, the other shadow planet, which has the uncanny ability to eclipse the power of the Sun. Scorpio will also be inhabited by the ever transformative Pluto and Mercury, who will go to war if everyone else is going.

Venus rules Taurus and Mars rules Scorpio. This pair of opposite signs certainly wins the prize for being the sexiest and most passionate axis. So, I'm feeling like this full Moon may be the time for a face-off between the newly born Venus love and peace energy, and the oil-Laden agenda of the military machine that has set the tone for most of the post industrial age so far. This should be exciting, folks; I wonder what exactly is going to happen.