Honoring our planetary bodies can be a very magical and mystical tapestry. Venus is going retrograde on October 3rd in Scorpio and back into Libra before she turns direct on November 13th and traveling back through Scorpio. This is the last retrograde cycle for this scorpio star point in our life time. Both Scorpio and Libra are about relationships and the deeper shadows we carry will most likely come up through Scorpio …. Look at what house this falls in for you in your chart.
For me personally it’s the 12 house and it is my Scorpio Rising. I recently over the last few weeks have been dreaming about past relationships, friendships and family. A lot has been coming to the surface. Pay close attention to what is coming up in your life around relationships. ,
Venus is considered Innana in mythology also known as the Queen of Heaven who travels to the underworld. That particular moment has a very old esoteric significance—the descent and rebirth of Venus, closely associated in modern astrological symbolism with the Inanna/Ishtar cycle. Ancient Mesopotamians also explicitly associated Inanna/Ishtar with Venus, whose disappearance and reappearance in the sky lends itself naturally to imagery of descent, disappearance and return.
Evening Star → disappearance → underworld → rebirth → Morning Star.
So when Venus disappears into the Sun during inferior conjunction and emerges before sunrise as the Morning Star, astrologers and modern esoteric traditions often read this as a Venusian death/rebirth initiation. Another layer associated with Venus is the eight-pointed star as a major symbol of Inanna/Ishtar and represented Venus.
Scorpio represents the territory beneath the visible surface: death and rebirth, initiation, sexuality, power, secrets, taboo, psychological depths, occult knowledge, and transformation through surrender. The descent we encounter within the hidden realms, the death of an identity into transformation with new emergence opening up. This is why I find the connection with Inanna’s descent particularly interesting given she is diving into Scorpio.
Inanna voluntarily enters the Underworld and passes through the seven gates, surrendering an article of clothing or symbol of power at each one. Eventually she stands naked before her sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. Inanna is killed and later restored. Symbolically that’s profoundly Scorpionic: It’s the stripping away, the surrender, death, a period of gestation and rebirth.
And Venus entering Scorpio adds another layer where Venus ordinarily represents attraction, beauty, relationships, pleasure , what we value and our desires. Scorpio asks Venus what remains when everything superficial we’ve created is removed? She is considered in detriment or exile in the house of Scorpio given she governs Libra and Taurus. All the more reason she is diving deep in Scorpio.
So Venus in Scorpio can symbolically become a descent of Venus—relationship and desire functioning as portals into shadow, intimacy, attachment, power, vulnerability and transformation. She moves backward toward the Sun (the self) and reaches inferior conjunction, the astronomical point associated with her transition from Evening Star toward Morning Star.
As a collective, we will be moving through these energies together, whether on a conscious or subconscious level. I’m taking this time (40 days) to journal, write, log dreams/draw dreams and mediation each day. Honoring her with candlelight until she emerges again as the morning star of rebirth. I’m one to do rituals, but this one feels particularly potent this time given her placement in Scorpio the underworld of transformation
If you care to join me on this journey, send me an email and we can move through this together…
Our next Mystical Mallorca Retreat is coming up soon, and it’s starting to fill up. Here’s a link for more information.
Sending Love,
Elise
Art by Alexandra Manea
