How is the Venus Cycle like the Lunar Cycle?
Cycles within Cycles
The lunar cycle is a template for all cycles that wax and wane. Similar to the seasons, the life-death-life cycle, and the day and night - the moon begins in stillness and emptiness and expands into fullness and fruition, then back again. Did you know that the Venus cycle mirrors the moon cycle as well?
Venus cycle as seen from Earth
The Venus Cycle
The four phases of the Venus cycle are:
Morning Star (Waxing Venus - 9 months)
Full Venus Phase (Venus in the Underworld and Exterior Conjunction)
Evening Star Phase (Waning Venus - 9 months)
New Venus Phase (Venus Retrograde and Interior Conjunction)
Venus appears to get bigger and brighter in the sky as she gets closer to earth on her orbit. The crescent phase of Venus (both waxing and waning) can sometimes even been seen in daylight!
COSMIC CLOCKS
The lunar cycle creates a rhythm that is about a month long - or 29.5 days. The moon weaves at least 12 lunar cycles every solar year, and occasionally 13 cycles. Since the moon does not fit all nice and tidy into the boxes of a solar calendar, bridging linear time back to lunar time requires flexibility and an understanding and appreciation of fluctuating energy.
The Venus cycle creates another rhythm, a cosmic heartbeat, that cultures around the globe have calculated and created rituals to follow her journey through the sky. Every lunar cycle Venus and the moon meet up to create what is called a Venus Gate in Shamanic Astrology.
One full Venus cycle is like a lunar cycle expanded over 19 months. It takes Venus more than a year and a half to return to the same position from our perspective on earth. Learning about the Venus cycle and tracking her position in the sky expands your awareness of the overlapping cycles within cycles and the movement of love. You may begin to notice how Venus shows up as an ally on your journey through relationships, creative expression, fighting for what you love, pleasure, heartbreak, forgiveness, and opening up to the gifts of life.
Venus and the Sun
Just like the moon, Venus reflects the light of the sun. Her position in relationship with the sun and earth is what creates the phases. Every time Venus is conjunct the sun in the Full or New phase, she creates what Astrologer Arielle Guttman calls a Venus Star Point.