Happy New Year Everyone! Here we are finally in 2012 – so much talk, so much speculation, so much anticipation, and now here we are, it’s upon us – we’re going to find out what it’s all about for ourselves and, more than that, realise our own part in unfolding cosmic drama that is 2012!
I’m just returned from a month in Luxor, Egypt – my second visit there this year – revisiting particular temples and tombs and diving deeper into the mysteries and tapping into some of the magic that I intuitively feel has so much relevance for us now as we transition through these extraordinary times of material and spiritual transformation.
From an astrological and alchemical point of view, I am becoming increasingly fascinated by the twelve hours of the Imduat (the “Book of What is in the Duat”) described on the walls of certain tombs in the Valley of the Kings. This journey into the Duat (loosely translated as the Land of the Dead or Underworld), the landscape of which is portrayed symbolically in the painted vignettes, is one would that would have been undertaken while the pharoah / initiate was still alive, and is a journey of death, regeneration and ascension.
5th Hour of the Imduat (from the tomb of Tuthmoses III, Valley of the Kings)
The Imduat and the associated New Kingdom Book of the Caverns and Book of the Gates (which draw from the earlier pyramid texts) reveal the integration of lunar and solar energies, through the regeneration of Osiris and the illumination of Re-Atum. The strip-registers are complex and subtle in their symbolism, yet the more I engage with them the more I am seeing zodiacal and alchemical signatures in each hour of the journey from dusk to dawn. The correspondences are by no means obvious, but I am convinced that the twelve stages of the alchemical process, the twelve signs of the zodiacal journey and the twelve hours of the Imduat are connected. I intend to post more on this in the coming months.
The temples too hold profound keys, I believe, for our transformation and I feel the wisdom and spiritual power contained within them is being activated. Karnak and Luxor temples, linked by the avenue of sphinxes, describe a journey that forever links the ram-headed god Amun-Re at Karnak to Man in his divine proportions, as is so exquisitely described in subtle symbolism of Luxor Temple. The Hathor Temple of Dendera holds a particular fascination for me, partly because of the profoundly healing and transforming nature of Hathor who carries the seed of rebirth, so apposite for our times – and also because of the extraordinary astrological ceilings there. And while the famous Dendera Zodiac (the only circular zodiac in ancient Egypt) is merely a disappointing replica, the recently renovated Nut astrological ceilings in the main hypostle hall are quite marvellous. And it was the deep connection that I made to this particular that has prompted me to make the following film, where I talk about the astrology of 2012 in the context of the Hathor energy that I believe can hold a key to humanity’s transformation at this time.
The Venus Transit – June 5th / 6th 2012
On June 5th and 6th this year, a remarkable astronomical event will occur, that nobody alive today will ever have the chance to witness again in their lifetime. The planet Venus will pass directly across the face of the Sun for a period of about nine hours and this will be visible to the naked eye. (proper precautions must be taken when viewing the Sun, and it should never be looked at directly – rather it should be reflected onto a piece of paper and viewed that way – the transit will only be visible in the UK just before sunset and just after sunrise). The so-called Venus transit occurred eight years ago in June 2004, but will not happen again for another 121 years. Sun-Venus conjunctions occur frequently – there are exactly ten conjunctions every eight years – and five of these occur with Venus between the earth and the Sun, with Venus always in retrograde motion. However, because Venus does not precisely follow the ecliptic path that the Sun follows through the zodiacal constellations, these conjunctions ordinarily occur with Venus either slightly above or slightly below the Sun. It is only when Venus is exactly on the ecliptic at the time of the conjunction that the so-called “Venus Transit” occurs.
The Venus Transit of 2004
The eight year cycle of Venus orbits around the Sun as they relate to our perspective from earth is extraordinary. In one eight year period Venus makes ten conjunctions with the Sun. Five of these are “superior” conjunctions when she is on the opposite side of the Sun from the earth and moving very fast in direct motion through the zodiac (from the earth perspective). And five of them are “inferior” conjunctions where she is between Earth and Sun, at her closest approach to the earth, appearing to move slowly backwards, or retrograde, through the zodiac. What is remarkable is that when lines are drawn between those ten conjunction points, two perfect pentagrams are formed. And if we trace the path of Venus over that eight year period, the path describes a perfect five-petalled rose. The rose and the pentagram are Venus’s traditional symbols and, while it is only now that modern computers can show the effects of this astronomical mandala, the ancients clearly had a way of knowing about it also, though how they did, we can only speculate!
Venus Double Pentagram from "Venus: The Path of Beauty", by Nick Kollerstrom
It is because Venus returns to more-or-less exactly the place that she was in the zodiac at the end of this eight year cycle, that we end up having two Venus transits eight years apart; in effect a Venus transit period, which will not now repeat until the year 2133. And how significant that we should get to witness this phenomenon in 2012, the year that has become so associated with ancient prophecy and destiny. The ancients considered that when Venus was in conjunction with the Sun, she was in the underworld, not being visible in the sky during the period of her retrogradation (which lasts for a number of weeks), and it was here that the goddess of beauty and love (and by association the Venusian archetype within each of us) meets her dark aspect and is initiated in secret into the transformative power of death, regeneration and renewal. It is only at the time of a Venus transit that we briefly get a glimpse of the dark secret of Venus’ initiation.
I personally feel that it is really important that we honour this transit in June, that we celebrate Venus over this period and her gifts of balance, proportion, beauty, harmony and love. What an opportunity we have here to participate with this astronomical wonder. We are holding an event here at St Anne’s in Glastonbury to celebrate the transit and I will be giving a series of lectures over the coming months about Venus, the astrological significance of the Venus transit, and how we can participate in its mysterious unfolding. I will posting more articles on this website too.