In an extraordinary example of cosmic synchronicity, Venus appears to be secretly expressing her love for the Earth, as she offers up to Gaia a perfectly formed five-petalled flower.

If we plot Venus’s position in the zodiac, day-by-day, against her distance from the earth over an eight-year period, we observe her drawing out an extraordinary rose pattern, returning to almost exactly the same point in the zodiac before the repeating the pattern again.  The petals of the flower are defined by the ‘loops’ she makes five times during those eight years, while she is in her retrograde phase, where she reverses her direction through the zodiac for a period of 40 days each time.  During these phases, she makes her closest approach to us, ‘kissing' the Earth at the moment of her intimate retrograde conjunction with the Sun. 

This remarkable dance is composed of five heart-shaped movements, during which two conjunctions with the Sun are made; one of these during her closest retrograde approach.  Over the eight years she makes five superior conjunctions with the Sun when she is in direct motion and on the far side of the Sun from us, and five inferior conjunction when she is in retrograde motion and on our side of the Sun.  When these ten conjunctions are plotted out, they form two perfect pentagrams, the superior conjunctions forming the larger, and the inferior conjunctions the smaller of the two five-sided figures. Another remarkable example of Venusian harmony.

Come join us on Saturday in the Rose Temple at Medicine Festival, as we dance the pattern together, with a harpist accompanying the journey, playing in 5/4 time, Venus’s secret time signature!

About John Wadsworth

John has been practising as a professional astrologer since 1992.  He is the founder of the Kairos School of Astrology, established in 2010 and accredited by the Association of Professional Astrologers International (APAI).  He is author of the best-selling book, Your Zodiac Soul: Twelve Gateways to Wholeness (2018) - and he is one of the pioneers of experiential astrology, and astrological theatre.  He is also co-author of The Planetary Dialogues with Andreea Bradu - a unique work of astrological theatre and poetic discourse - recently published in 2026.