Ishtar

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Aphrodite – Sacred Earth Designs

Goddesses In Every Woman is a really interesting read, blending feminist philosophy with Jungian psych & mythology to essentially help women figure out which archetypes are strong within them. I was really only interested in the Aphrodite (aka Venus, Ishtar, Inanna etc) chapter but made myself read the rest & was SO shocked at the section on Vesta that i really don’t know if i can bring myself to blog about the asteroid again.

It was the bit about how Vestal Virgins in Ancient Rome were punished if they ’strayed’ – seriously awful stuff – there is a bit here.

I mean, really, is the asteroid that important?

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David La Chapelle

Ishtar, the Venus/Aphrodite of Ancient Babylon, is amazing. She managed to hold sway over a huge variety of realms; Love, War, Sex, Wine, Courtesans, Flowers…Now so far as I am concerned, the planet currently known as Venus IS also Ishtar but f.y.i. there is an Asteroid Ishtar. Number 7088 if you want to try and put it into your chart via the Astrodienst Extended Options.

I am completely thrilled that my Ishtar is conjunct Lilith. In Capricorn! I have these cool, bitched up feminine asteroids in Capricorn and nothing else, making me think v.differently about that bit of my chart.  There’s an asteroid Aphrodite too. But i repeat: The Morning/Evening Star is it; Venus-Aphrodite-Ishtar et al.

Note that Venus is in the sign of her rulership this week AND moving to trine (easy, flowing) Jupiter in Aquarius. Something stupendously o.t.t. could go on. A BIG love, overblown and imposs to resist. Or it could just be crazy, crazy appetites. The double-a-jeans size in two weeks Jupiter diet. Or a Venusian spending regime where everything you spend turns to health and beauty until the cc statement petrifies you on the spot.

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Yes, it’s really hard to conspiracy theorize when Area 51 is on Google Street View, sigh. Conspiracy theories got real big when Pluto was in Scorpio (early 80s to mid-90s) and then again after Saturn opposed Pluto – that was in late 2001…I would probably be more interested in Conspiracy Theories if the people putting them forward were not so, um, subjective and so often into demonising a particular group of peeps.

Both my grandfathers were Freemasons and i tried SO hard to elicit fabulous occult info but honestly, their branches at least seemed to be mostly about drinking.  I do find it funny/weird that in a post referring to the sort of e-mails i never answer, i referred to (jokingly) “the Impending-Shitfeast-Of-Doom-Laden-Crap-Hell that will most likely occur by next Wednesday/the Galactic Centre conjoining Arcturus” and the keywords Impending Shitfeast Of Doom etc have been taken and linked to be several conspiracy sites. As in they think I GET IT!  Only I don’t.

Is there ONE unified Conspiracy Theory of all???  I was looking for pics of Ishtar (the Aphrodite of Ancient Babylon) a while ago & found this fabulously cuckoo site that had pix of Ishtar & somehow linked her in with US President Obama AND that the Statue of Liberty is actually a depiction of the Sun Goddess….All i could think was ‘awesome’ but the person whose site it was was not at ALL happy with the situation as he perceived it and then got overwrought/more stoned and went on to deem Obama & family as Alien-Lizard-like creatures.  Which SO contradicts the Babylon link…

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Charles August Mengin

The other day, I was posting real nice things about Saturn (Saturn Girl) and i only later realised that asteroid Sappho (number 80 if you want to bung her into your chart via Astrodienst) was conjunct Saturn and still is. That so fits!  I still think so many of the asteroids are just named randomly – and there are heaps of them – whereas the naming of the main planets took place over aeons of observation & witching. eg; the planet we call Venus was known as Ishtar by the Ancient Babylonians & they figured out her weird pentagram-shaped orbit way before (obviously) modern telescopes etc.

See Venus – Are You A Morning Star Or An Evening Star Venus? for more on that.

But asteroid relevancy aside, i loved that an asteroid called after one of the greatest ever poets – Sappho – was on Saturn as i tried to reinterpret the entity. I love it when Sappho shows up in charts. She was a genius, a poet and gay, though she had a daughter, Cleis, for whom she wrote a poem…“I have a fair daughter….her form is that of a golden flower…”

Most of her work was burned by rabid Christians & so only bits of it survive. There were Papal edicts instructing peeps to destroy her work – because she was gay? Because she began and managed schools to educate women? Because heaps of her poems were in frank praise of Aphrodite? The Greeks considered her on a par with Homer and she surely influenced Ovid?  Anyway, in a chart,  I think she signifies poetry, wit, sheer feminine genius and the will to eloquently assert your right to do as you sensually please.

My friend Kim Falconer thinks asteroid Sappho shows up as tactile, indulgent, luscious, heady & yet extraordinarily smart – Asteroid 80 is a totally fun asteroid to research AND if your Sappho is on the love interest’s Venus or Moon you SO mess with his/her mind. Just by showing up. If you don’t know much about Sappho, do go to some of these links…I like to think that book burnings do NOT work! Oh and yes, she was born on the isle of Lesbos, some time around 600 BC.

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peace_goddess_burgundyPeace Goddess by Shepard Fairey

Venus is, as you know, a planet & f.y.i. all the mountains & lakes on Venus are named after her pseudonyms; Ishtar, Cybele, Aphrodite et al. But Venus is also known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star. Her cycle is complex & intricate. She is for a while the brightest star in the evening sky & then disappears (in parallel to many a myth) for several days and then reappearing on the other side of the sky as the Morning Star a.k.a. Venus Lucifer. Lucifer being Latin for light-bearer. Venus Hesperus (spelling varies) is the Evening Star…

Some say that Morning Star Venus peeps are more passionate & impulsive whilst Evening Star Venus types are more likely to be sedate and strategic. If your Venus is at a degree earlier than your Sun, you’re a Morning Star Venus. After your Sun, you’re an Evening Star Venus. For example, if your Sun is at 25 degrees Capricorn and your Venus is 16 degrees Aquarius then you were born under Venus as the Evening Star. If your Sun is at 25 degrees Capricorn and your Venus is 5 degrees Capricorn, then you’re a Morning Star Venus & thus more Warrior-goddessy in your love & sex nature.

And yes, the cycle of Venus really DOES create a pentagram shape in the sky. Much like the Apple, when sliced in half & redolent also of the Rose.

This site here has the most exhaustive info on Venusian cycles that I think i have ever seen. They’re fascinating. A brand new Venus cycle starts in January 2010, linking back into romantic astro-weirding from Dec 2005/Jan 2006…

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Other than a few little Retro-Mercury glitches, you should definitely be in fresh territory by now. Venus/Ishtar/Aphrodite/Osun is totally out of the retrograde Shadow-Zone now.  So, having maybe wallowed a bit in ancient angsty stuff and had thoughts of past loves rise unbidden to the surface of your mind,  you now glide forward with a bold pioneering vibe. I actually just did a Freudian typo; “glide force” – nice, as Venus is still in Aries the avatar. Where is that line “I love your pilgrim soul” from?  I think i have already said this but Venus is now chasing after Mars and the two form a fantastic conjunction in Venusian Taurus in June; So sensual. A lot brewing.

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Fernando Gallego

“…The Age Of Gold was the first age of the world, without hardship or toil for those who dwelt on Earth, and was without crime. The most recent age of the world, full of troubles and evils, is called The Age of Iron, but perhaps it would be better to call it the Second Age of Gold, for many of its troubles began when gold first tempted humankind to wickedness and war. through the Ages of Gold, Silver and Bronze, Astraea – the goddess of justice – still remain on Earth, but when the Age Of Iron began, she found she could stay here no longer. Now she shines down from the sky as the constellation Virgo, the virgin.  Astraea once carried a pair of scales with which she weighed up the rights and wrongs of any dispute. Now Astraea’s scales shine close by Virgo as the constellation of Libra…Astraea, whose name means Star Maiden, was the last deity to leave Earth…”

Mythology – Myths, Legends & Fantasies

In Ancient Greek & Roman parlance, they say that the return of Astraea to Earth heralds the return of the Golden Age. The Ancient Sumerians knew the constellation of Virgo as Ishtar…their Aphrodite/creation goddess. And, every now & then, someone steps forward to say that ‘virgin’ in this context refers to a temple virgin…ie; women who did not marry but initiated men into the worship of Aphrodite via sex magic.

I think that Mercury as ruler of Virgo does fit them – Virgo Rising with Gemini Midheaven is still very much the astro-signature of a writer & Virgo Suns disproportionately swell the ranks of published/acclaimed novelists – but i love the idea of Virgos also getting lovely Astraea, the Star Maiden as their sponsor. Even if she DID give away her scales to Libra in disgust. It is interesting how so many cultures have the idea of some deity coming back & beginning a fabulous new age. Whether it be aliens, Mayans, Christ, King Arthur, Astraea or other versions of the Divine Feminine.

freya-copy2 Elspeth Tremblay

Yes it’s Friday 13 tomorrow and then the next 13th (March) is a Friday as well. But it’s auspicious!

Like all of the days of our week, Friday is named after a Norse Deity – Friday a.k.a Freya the Norse Goddess of Love. Their Venus. Note that the French word for Friday is Vendredi, day of Venus.  In India, it is Shukrava, named after the Sanskrit love goddess Shukra.

Many an ancient Christian shunned the day of Venus/Ishtar etc as they presumably thought her conduct far too frivolous & sensual. The 13 pissed them off because it is the actual number of lunar months in a year, yet another reminder of pre-patriarchal religion.  So Friday the 13th was just O.T.T. for a certain mindset. And Freya also rode in a chariot drawn by black cats.