Venus and beauty over the centuries (part IX)

In the ninth part of this series, we will continue to analyze the correlation between the charts of the greatest instants of Venus’s passage over the Sun with how beauty was perceived in the last two centuries of the modern age.¹

For the years 1874 and 1882, the two pairs of data of Venus’s passage over the Sun, based on the calculations made by Fred Espenak, NASA / GSFC² are:
December 9, 1874 GMT 4:39 (Series 6)
June 6, 1882 GMT 17:41 (Series 4)

This pair of transits marks the middle of the Venusian era started in the 18th century, the “century of revolutions”, as it was called, a historical period in which huge transformations took place in human society: at the threshold of the first Industrial Revolution, cities began to develop and, as a result, people gave up agricultural labors for a new life in the new-founded cities; bankers flourished, the financial world supported international trade, especially maritime trade, inventors made new discoveries. There was a worldly concern for logic and reasoning which gave birth to the philosophical and cultural trend called “Enlightenment”. This trend tried to eliminate the religious dogmas in order to bring about the “enlightenment” of the masses based on their own experiences.

Against these transmutations, many military conflicts have taken place, including the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), a continuation of the French Revolution wars started in 1789, through which the power of the French Empire reached the highest level in Europe.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain became the world’s most important power, controlling a quarter of the world’s population and a third of the land area.

While the Portuguese and the Spanish collapsed, the British and the German Empire, and America experienced a rapid development during this historical period.

It was also the starting point of the Technological Revolution in Europe, but also it was the beginning of the Victorian era, known in history for the hiring of children in factories and in mines.³

Against the backdrop of these important political, cultural and ideological movements, let us see what the first chart of the Sun-Venus conjunction, the one from 1874, tells us and how it correlates with the actual events unfolded.

The Scorpio Ascendant in a fixed sign means that the influences of this period were a continuation of the events commenced in 1761, being of a longer duration, that is, until the beginning of the next Venusian era.⁴

The Scorpio Ascendant is traditionally ruled by Mars, which is in the 12th house, a house of decline and death, which Firmicus Maternus called “Malus Daemon” (Bad Spirit), a house of misery, poverty, infirmity, imprisonment, and all forms in which life is destroyed. Describes everything that is hidden, unseen, clandestine and malicious, hence enemies, secrets, subterfuges, illegalities, and manipulation. The 12th house has certainly a negative symbolism both among classical astrologers and modern astrologers of today. Ptolemy said in “Tetrabiblos” that the hostility of this house is even more emphasized by the fact that the planets in this area become invisible, making them weak and powerless.⁵

In addition, ancient astrologers associate this house with Saturn, the only planet that has its joy in the 12th house, and hence the association with slavery, darkness and all human defects.

I was not surprised to find out that an important breakthrough in this period was the banning of international slave trade, a long-lasting and not-at-all-easy process. This was made by the British and Americans in 1807. The presence of the South Node together with Mars highlights the struggle with the forces of darkness as the lunar nodes imply obstruction of solar or lunar light due to implied relation with eclipses. However, Mars in Libra is weak, in Exile (Detriment) and in a cadent house, a sign that he cannot win the fight, his natural expression being much weakened – courage and determination turning into cowardice and aggression.

Guido Bonatti tells us that when Mars in Libra is Oriental, it means wars and power struggles among the rich, and when Mars is direct, it means that the rich and powerful cannot reach an understanding.⁶ We also find out that when Mars is with the Dragon Tail, it means total destruction, murder, famine, a lot of evil events.

What we can say for sure is that this period will remain forever in history as the period of the two world wars, the first in 1914-1918, and the second between 1939-1945 – a time of total destruction, of war crimes and the Holocaust, the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to more than 100 million dead in total. Europe was not the only continent where wars killed millions of lives, but Asia as well. The wars between China and Japan (1937-1945) as well as the Russian Civil War (1917-1921) generated anarchy and chaos bringing the deaths of millions of other people.

Also Mars, as the ruler of the 1st and the 6th houses, in Detriment, in the 12th house, tells us that people had poor living conditions, just as public health, national services were not honored, which is no wonder, given the wars.

Although Mars is in conjunction with the most lucky fixed star, Spica, this meant, in fact, that the success of corrupt military leaders (Mars in Exile), like Benito Mussolini and his ally, Adolf Hitler, among the masses brought a lot destruction due to violence, rigidity which reached stupidity, although the decisions made could have been good (Spica).⁷

We can easily see that although a cadent and a feminine house, the 12th house produces heavy evil visible effects. Let’s see what happens to Venus, who is the ruler of this “cursed” house. We notice that Venus in Sagittarius is making a applying sextile to Mars in Libra, Venus being in its own term (according to the Egyptian terms), so having very great power, as if it were in her own house.

Venus in Sagittarius, although it may have been a ray of hope, is in this nocturnal chart in mutual reception by sign with Jupiter and in the Triplicity of Jupiter, which is in Libra in the 12th house which further emphasis the symbolism of the 12th house through financial matters, banks, financial institutions, stock exchanges, income, resources, wealth, goods and business relations.

The eight years that pass between the two moments are fertile periods of processing the new ideas and changes, in which there is a progress of consciousness regarding the nature of the world.

The second chart has the Ascendant at 29 degrees in Gemini, a critical degree, a degree of transition, with the ruler of the Ascendant in the opposite house: Mercury in Sagittarius, in the sign of its Detriment, but also of its Fall according to traditional astrology. Though, without essential dignity, Mercury, in his own Decan is the most powerful planet of the chart due to the mutual reception by sign with Jupiter. Also Mercury is in the Triplicity of the Great Benefic, which is in Gemini, in an angular house which gives him strength – a sign that the period has been heavily influenced by everything Mercury governs: communications, transport, intellect, newspapers, publications and trade.

The period was noted by the birth of the Information Revolution and the Electronic Revolution. The most important consequence of the electronic revolution was the emergence of radio, telegraph, telephone, television – all forms of communication (Mercury).

Also, during this period, Tesla and other inventors have laid the foundations for electromagnetism, robotics, computers, and nuclear physics; also, the AC motor developed, which led to the Second Industrial Revolution.

Following the first chart, we see how the 12th house is again heavily populated, meaning a sign of total destruction: death (the 8th house) represented by Saturn, also ruler of the MC, Neptune and Pluto in the sign of Taurus in the 12th house – truly a difficult period, perhaps even the most difficult historical period of mankind analyzed so far.

The symbolism of death is very strongly emphasized in the chart from 1769 in the light of the fixed star Algol, which is in conjunction with Pluto, the god of the Underworld.

The concept of death remains baffling even today – some think death is an actual terror and they try to avoid it on a daily basis, while others see it as deep sleep or as a passing, while others see it like any other event of life such as birth, marriage, or the birth of a child. Perhaps this grim period in human history had to be experienced … so that we can all understand what is beyond death.

However, in “The Critique of Pure Reason”, Kant states that the human mind is too “fragile” to understand the truth of anything beyond the five senses, including God or life after death. So, we can only learn from all the mistakes of our collective past, in order to lay the foundations of a better society than that we have experienced so far. Venus in Sagittarius becomes the goddess of understanding … of all these difficult concepts…

Articolul este disponibil în revista Astrele și în limba română.