A lot going on in the next week. Let’s refresh on the Venus/Saturn square as Saturn is stationing to turn retrograde today.
* In ancient Greek philosophy the concept of necessity, Ananke, and the planet Saturn (Kronos) were closely related. Astrological philosopher Robert Schmidt has often suggested that within the Greek conceptualization of fate there were several different “kinds” of fate. With ananke, or necessity, there were two notions in particular. On the one hand you have events that are in some way fated or “bound” to occur. These are events over which we have no control. On the other hand there are events that occur due to ignorance. These are events that could perhaps be averted or changed with knowledge, enlightenment, or insight. Keeping these two notions in mind, let’s look again at the square between Venus and Saturn.
* Venus and Saturn may point toward destined events in relationships, negotiations, and partnerships. Events over which we have no control, events that are in some way “bound” to occur. They are out of our hands. And yet….what kind of universe do we live in, and what kinds of divine presence surrounds us, that we might see, know, and in some way anticipate or “know” that which is inevitable? Half the time what scares us so much about the future is either that it is unknown or that it is in some way inevitable, or outside of our control. But with astrology we are given this incredible gift. We can both know the fingerprints of the events that are bound to occur, and we can have knowledge of the inevitable both before, during, and after the inevitable occurs. This kind of knowledge changes our consciousness and ironically lifts the veil of ignorance, which in turn actually liberates consciousness from many things that ARE within our power to control or change about the future. But this kind of knowledge and this kind of change in consciousness isn’t available to us unless we bless our anxieties about the future. A hyper defensive philosophy about “presence,” isn’t fully present, in other words. To be fully present as beings living with an experience of time, astrology suggests to us that we learn to see and know the future, including its inevitability, which in some sense is the ultimate “symbol” of our death, perhaps the only inevitability we all share! Let’s try to keep this in mind as we watch certain destined events in relationships unfold before us in the weeks to come.
* Venus and Saturn may also point toward ignorance in relationships. Taking Saturn as a symbol for ignorance, rather than fate, we might say that this is a month where we may lift the veil of ignorance in our relationships, in the way we relate to others generally. How much pain and suffering in our lives is due to unconscious patterns, ignorant patterns, or patterns of everyday forgetting that are present in how we get along with those we love? Venus and Saturn together are both the consequences of our ignorance in love, friendships, relationships, diplomacy, and allegiances, but it’s also the learning, enlightenment, and maturing that we might do together in order to foster long-lasting bonds, bonds that are ready to take a step forward, relationships that are ready to develop beyond the limitations of our ignorance.
* Venus and Saturn is also the need to eliminate, reject, sever, or abandon relationships that aren’t working any longer. In some sense these kinds of events might be both destined and in some ways related to a process of maturation and learning. After all, according to Schmidt, the ancient Greeks saw the above concepts of fate freely mingling with one another all the time. Is it much different today?!
Prayer: Teach us to know the inevitable, and teach us to lift the veils of ignorance so that we might love and serve one another better, longer, and deeper.
* In ancient Greek philosophy the concept of necessity, Ananke, and the planet Saturn (Kronos) were closely related. Astrological philosopher Robert Schmidt has often suggested that within the Greek conceptualization of fate there were several different “kinds” of fate. With ananke, or necessity, there were two notions in particular. On the one hand you have events that are in some way fated or “bound” to occur. These are events over which we have no control. On the other hand there are events that occur due to ignorance. These are events that could perhaps be averted or changed with knowledge, enlightenment, or insight. Keeping these two notions in mind, let’s look again at the square between Venus and Saturn.
* Venus and Saturn may point toward destined events in relationships, negotiations, and partnerships. Events over which we have no control, events that are in some way “bound” to occur. They are out of our hands. And yet….what kind of universe do we live in, and what kinds of divine presence surrounds us, that we might see, know, and in some way anticipate or “know” that which is inevitable? Half the time what scares us so much about the future is either that it is unknown or that it is in some way inevitable, or outside of our control. But with astrology we are given this incredible gift. We can both know the fingerprints of the events that are bound to occur, and we can have knowledge of the inevitable both before, during, and after the inevitable occurs. This kind of knowledge changes our consciousness and ironically lifts the veil of ignorance, which in turn actually liberates consciousness from many things that ARE within our power to control or change about the future. But this kind of knowledge and this kind of change in consciousness isn’t available to us unless we bless our anxieties about the future. A hyper defensive philosophy about “presence,” isn’t fully present, in other words. To be fully present as beings living with an experience of time, astrology suggests to us that we learn to see and know the future, including its inevitability, which in some sense is the ultimate “symbol” of our death, perhaps the only inevitability we all share! Let’s try to keep this in mind as we watch certain destined events in relationships unfold before us in the weeks to come.
* Venus and Saturn may also point toward ignorance in relationships. Taking Saturn as a symbol for ignorance, rather than fate, we might say that this is a month where we may lift the veil of ignorance in our relationships, in the way we relate to others generally. How much pain and suffering in our lives is due to unconscious patterns, ignorant patterns, or patterns of everyday forgetting that are present in how we get along with those we love? Venus and Saturn together are both the consequences of our ignorance in love, friendships, relationships, diplomacy, and allegiances, but it’s also the learning, enlightenment, and maturing that we might do together in order to foster long-lasting bonds, bonds that are ready to take a step forward, relationships that are ready to develop beyond the limitations of our ignorance.
* Venus and Saturn is also the need to eliminate, reject, sever, or abandon relationships that aren’t working any longer. In some sense these kinds of events might be both destined and in some ways related to a process of maturation and learning. After all, according to Schmidt, the ancient Greeks saw the above concepts of fate freely mingling with one another all the time. Is it much different today?!
Prayer: Teach us to know the inevitable, and teach us to lift the veils of ignorance so that we might love and serve one another better, longer, and deeper.
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