Scheherazade's Tales to the Harem: Aphrodite, Initiator of Souls.

Today Venus 'kissed' the Sun, joining it to begin a new cycle of transformation.  When she appears on June 9th as the new Morning Star, we will begin a new phase of incarnating the Divine Feminine.

So today I tell the ancient myth of Psyche & Eros, a tale that shows us how to awaken our souls through love and desire.


 

Scheherazade's Tales to the Harem: Aphrodite, Goddess of Sexuality

Today's episode of Scheherazade's Tales to the Harem explores Aphrodite's role as Goddess of Sexuality.

 

Scheherazade's Tales to the Harem: Venus, Goddess of Beauty

Today's episode speaks to the power of Beauty in our lives.  America especially needs a lesson in beauty, since we seem to cover the land with our ugly strip shopping malls and our untamed need to ravish the Earth of her beauty.

Scheherazade's Tales to the Harem: Aphrodite/Venus as Creator Goddess

During this Venus retrograde in Gemini, I'm going to tell stories every Friday -- Venus' Day -- about who she is and what energies she evokes in us.

Here's the first video -- not great technologically since I couldn't get the slide show to work, but it's the first.

I forgot to mention the photo of Aphrodite is by Kersten Zettmar.

Venus Retrograde: Discovering a New Feminine Ideal

Venus Retrograde: May 13-14 to June 24-25, 2020

Listening with the Heart

Aphrodite's Bath

All archetypal images transform over time, although the basic archetype stays the same. When it is no longer relevant, the archetypal image becomes a stereotype, which in turn needs to die so the archetype can be reborn in a new image. This is true of all archetypal energies – they want to be continually moving and transforming.

When planets retrograde, it indicates a time to stop and take a breath and reconsider what we're doing. Retrograde planets give us the opportunity to re-think, re-do, re-novate, re-consider, re-structure and re-view what's been happening. With all the retrogrades this week, we are heading into the real season of transformation. Our isolation was just the setup.

While Saturn and Jupiter speak more to our collective life, Venus is subjective and personal, especially for women. So while we'll talk about the collective energies of Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn challenging Venus retrograde, let's concentrate on Venus first.

Venus goes retrograde when her orbit brings her between the Earth and the Sun. She is closest to us as well as being an Evening Star. Once she disappears into the glare of the Sun, she will emerge about 5 days later as a Morning Star. 9 months later, Venus will slip behind the Sun (furthest away from Earth) and become an Evening Star.

Evening Star Venus

The Morning Star energizes a new feminine experience while the Evening Star gathers the wisdom she has gleaned from the Morning Star and dispenses it to us. Other astrologers say that her Morning Star phase is the Warrior while her Evening Star phase is the Lover. The alternating rhythm is one of extroversion/out-breath and introversion/in-breath.

As you can see, the heavens are always declaring the need for transformation, and this month we'll be experiencing it both personally through Venus and collectively through the Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter retrogrades. The Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter retrogrades will be a time to re-focus on societal issues like power dynamics, social structures, work and opportunity. Through our Venus retrograde, we can work to decide what social structures are valuable to us and which are not. 

Aphrodite & the 9 Muses 

Venus rules the arts and those are suffering under this global shut-down, just when we need them more than ever. Artists everywhere are shut off from the places where they can share their work. This is another issue that Venus in Gemini wants to re-consider.

The planet Venus was always important to the ancient astronomers because of it's consistent orbit around the Sun but especially because it makes a perfect 5-pointed star (a pentagram) every 8 years. This pentagram geometric pattern Venus makes in the heavens evokes feelings of harmony, beauty, love and peace. It is also associated with the 'golden mean' of the Fibonacci Series as Venus moves from a Morning Star to an Evening Star then back to a Morning Star.

Arielle Guttman has written a book on this cycle called Venus Star Rising where she describes the Venus cycle.  In our present cycle, Venus changes from Morning to Evening to Morning Star in these 5 signs beginning with this Gemini (MS), Capricorn (ES), Leo (MS), Aries (ES), Scorpio (MS) then back to Gemini as an Evening Star in 2024.

Venus crossing the face of the Sun

Every 130 years or so, Venus aligns twice in 8 years on the same plane as the Earth and Sun and we see her passing over the face of the Sun, This happened in 2004 and 2012, both in the sign of Gemini, and to me it indicates that we are heading into a new connection with the Divine Feminine, one that wants us to be knowledgeable and wise, socially responsible, confident in our self-expression and creativity, courageous with pioneering new visions and possibilities, and capable of transformation and deep change.

The New Feminine for our times. Open to deep listening and learning, open to courteous conversations using both the left and right brains, open to all possibilities until the one which is our truth comes to live in us.

Mercury will be in Gemini for part of this Venus retrograde cycle, from May 11^th to May 28^th, when Venus disappears into the rays of the Sun before emerging in the morning sky on June 11^th. This can help us communicate the values that Venus is re-considering. Is going back to 'normal' the best thing for Mother Earth and for our health? Is money more important than Love? Do we want partnership relationships rather than hierarchical ones? Can we create a world that embraces the feminine values of love, harmony, equality, peace and community rather than our present society based on war, greed, rampant consumerism, environmental destruction and inequality?

Venus has been traveling through Gemini since April 3, 2020 and will finally go into Cancer on August 7, 2020 – a 4 month stay rather than her usual 4 weeks visit. So what can we learn about the value of love, beauty, wisdom, sexuality and the arts during her stay in Gemini?

Gemini is the sign of the Twins. In Greek mythology, it's about Castor and Pollux. One twin was mortal while the other was immortal. To me this symbolizes the need to balance our intuitive immortal brain with our rational mortal brain, since our right brain picks up our relationship with Mother Earth and life, while our left brain develops separately in each of us.

Mercury is the ruler of Gemini and is considered the Messenger God. So we can say that Gemini is about communicating and delivering messages. With Venus in Gemini, the hope is that we can do it kindly with wit and style, when people are so radically separated by their beliefs, and learn to have conversations with an open mind.

This is the energy of the lunar nodes now being in Gemini-Sagittarius: we need to step away from our limiting beliefs (Sagittarius) and be open-minded about information (Gemini) so we can embrace new beliefs (Sagittarius) that will bring harmony and peace to a fearful society.

This is also a time to look at our relationships. The old patriarchal form of relationship was a patriarchal dominator model – meaning that men had some right of ownership over his wife and children. We say not anymore, but that's not true for so many women around the world.

Gemini is so androgynous that it can help us imagine all sorts of relationships that are partnership based. This is a great time to examine our unconscious behavior regarding our partnerships and our 'obligations' to them.

Dana Gerhardt, a great astrologer, has a 40 day meditation to do during this retrograde.  You can check it out here.

I've decided that during this Venus retrograde cycle, I want to look at the ancient stories of Venus/Aphrodite/Astarte/Isis/Inanna. The Stories of the Archetypal pattern of the divine feminine. The 40 day journey of Venus in the underworld is a quest to reclaim all those parts of the feminine that have been repressed, disregarded and controlled. 

Botticelli's Venus

 

I'll be telling stories about Venus/Aphrodite online every Friday, Venus' own day, through July, which I hope you'll tune into.  I'll be posting them on FaceBook and on this Wisdom blog:

http://ladywisdomchronicles.blogspot.com/

Venus symbolizes the power of connection. With all the social distancing, we still need to stay connected, otherwise we lose the most important part of our humanity. So find new ways to express your love, your hopes and your ideals.

Blessings on us all!

Cathy

What has Happened to our Moral Character?

What has happened to our Moral Character?

School of Athens -- Raphael

As I watch the news, I find myself looking for stories about people's character. How they are responding to the global crisis.

I'm in the middle of a dialogue with an army friend about the Navy commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his command because he went outside the chain of command to write a letter to the Navy leadership about his men and the coronavirus crisis on his ship. To me, that indicates this captain has a strong moral character, because he went against the rules to save his men. To me, he sacrificed something of his life for his men and that makes him a hero to me.

Having the courage to do what's right, even when it will get you into trouble; using your gifts and strengths to help others; standing up to lies and hypocrisy. These are all gifts of moral character. And having a strong character is part of our soul growth, isn't it? We also have to learn kindness and compassion, responsibility and endurance and many other virtues that we no longer name as important to life when we incarnate each lifetime. When we resonant at these high levels of character, we can change the world.

I believe that our work each lifetime is to build our character. To learn not only how to be human, but to become a conscious human being who has the right and privilege to co-create the world with Source.

As I notice which movies and shows come out each month on Netflix and Amazon, there aren't many which teach us how to develop that moral character. I love THIS IS US for that very reason. It's all about a father's struggle to build character in himself and in his children. And a mother's need to love and protect her children.

And of course there is my favorite moral mentor, Captain Jean-Luc Picard. In the finale of the new series PICARD, Jean-Luc says something that is so important for all of us, but most especially for fathers. When he's asked how he's going to get through to a character who is making a bad choice, he say: By example! By her seeing my actions and then making her own choice.

That's the best example of what builds character – to live it, to own it --- whether it's honor or mercy or freedom of choice. And to pass it on by example. And that's the ancient archetypal purpose of The Father. We don't need to be a father to do this, but that's the archetypal energy behind being an example of moral character. To be an example of a responsible human being. There can be laughter and joy, fun and playfulness as well. But our work is to build into our character the very best of human nature. Loyalty. Honesty. Honor. Respect. Service. Leadership. These are qualities of the Divine Masculine, in both men and women.

Our work is to develop as much of the goodness of the universe as our hearts can hold.

What The World Needs Now Is Wisdom

What the World Needs Now Is Wisdom

Sophia/Wisdom

There was once a king in Israel named Solomon, a son of King David, the shepherd boy who slew a giant, and Bathsheba, the beautiful one who stole a king’s heart. After David died, his son Solomon became king of Israel.

The first thing Solomon did after he was crowned was to go to the sanctuary of Gibeon, a holy place where the Hebrew god, Yahweh, spoke to a seeker in dreams.

And that night, Yahweh came to Solomon in a dream and said:

“Ask of me what you will and I will grant it to you.”

And in the dream, Solomon said: “You showed great mercy and kindness to my father David while he was king, for he loved you. And now you have shown him even greater love by letting his son sit on his throne after his death.”

“You, O Lord, have now made me king over a great people, and I feel like a little child. How can I rule over them if I don’t know how?”

“Therefore, I ask you for an understanding heart to judge your people, so I can discern between good and bad. I ask you for the Wisdom to judge your people and be a good king.”

Now you might ask “what is Wisdom?” Why would a king ask for Wisdom above power or glory or victory in the field of battle? But Solomon knew what he was asking for.

With you [God] is Sophia [Lady Wisdom], she who knows your works, she who was present when you made the world; she understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what agrees with your commandments. (Wisdom 9:9)

And Yahweh was pleased with Solomon for asking for this gift. And Yahweh said: “Because you have asked for Wisdom and have not asked for a long life for yourself, or riches, or power over your enemies, but instead seek Wisdom, I will give you what you ask for. I will give you a wise and understanding heart. And no one before or after you will be remembered as you are – the wise king.”

And then Yahweh added: “And I will give you the things you have not asked me for, both riches and honor, and there will be no other king like you in all your days. Just promise that you will walk in my ways, and keep my commandments as your father David did, and I will give you a long life.”

Then Solomon awoke, and remembered his dream. And went back to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and gave thanks.

What would you ask for if your God promised you anything you wanted? Who would pick Wisdom, as Solomon did, when offered that miraculous gift? How many of our leaders have asked for a wise and understanding heart above all else? Isn't Wisdom exactly what we need now to deal with this world-wide pandemic and economic crisis?

Do we ask for Wisdom as we sit home, watching Netflix and playing games?Perhaps we don’t ask for Wisdom because we don’t feel the burden of responsibility that Solomon felt for his people. But if we don’t take responsibility for ourselves and our world, who will? Freedom implies responsibility.

Will we ask to be the Wise King, the Wise Teacher/ the Wise Queen and Wise Priestess? Don't you think this is necessary now? Each of us holds a part of these archetypes. The King or Queen archetype within us means taking responsibility for the people and the type of society we live in. Teacher and Priestess archetypes engender within us growth and awareness of many realities.

If there was ever a time in our human history when we need Wisdom, it is now. We are living in extraordinary times, a moment of supreme destiny where the human race can and must participate consciously in our own evolution. This evolution is both personal and collective, opening us to new capacities for co-creation and offering us new possibilities for cultural transformation. For the cultural paradigm that we live in is dying, but it is not going gracefully. We need a new way to understand our world and our place in it. And then we have to create a new and more viable way of living here on our beautiful planet, Earth.

It’s true we live in chaotic and changing times, and so people live in fear – not only fear of COV-19 but of war, disease, poverty, death, violence and the unknown. People have been content to remain unconscious of the damage done to our environment, but we are already living with the results of these misguided policies. This virus comes from Mother Earth's wounded biosphere. It is Her response to our irresponsibility.

But to allow ourselves to fall into more unconsciousness and despair is unimaginative and lazy. We have been given the supreme gift of free will and so our choices do matter. What if, by choosing to follow Lady Wisdom’s call, we learn to turn our god-like creative imagination to transforming our society and re-creating the world rather than going back to business as usual, with our machines polluting the Earth, our wars creating record numbers of refugees and our conspicuous consumption going over the top? Do we really need more junk from Amazon?

With all our innovation and creativity, we do have it in our power to create a ‘heaven on earth’ if we choose. It seems we might only have this small window of time to begin this process. Westerners are the ones holding the power now. Our patriarchal paradigm that shaped our worldview and brought us to this crisis point does not want to transfer its power to the children who will have to live in the future world. While the world has stopped to deal with this pandemic, we each need to imagine what we really want the world to do and be when we all come back from our self-isolation.

We who are living in these most interesting times have a challenge before us – will we be strong enough and committed enough to change our habits and use our free will to create peace and plenty here on this beautiful Earth of ours? Or will we continue to allow the death and destruction that is rampant in our present world to rage on until we are all lost. Each of us holds the world in our hands through our choices. It is time to take responsibility for those choices and evolve into a greater vision of who we might become.

If we choose to take up our responsibility to all of life, then we absolutely have to be ‘wise as serpents and harmless as doves’ (Matthew 10:16). Unfortunately, the mystics who wrote about Wisdom say that although Lady Wisdom cries out in the streets for people to come to her so she can give us her gifts, most people ignore her. Could it be because Wisdom is always imagined as feminine? 

 

Wisdom comes from our feminine right brain – our imagination, our intuition and our emotional intelligence. Since all of us have access to both brains, let's start using them instead of falling back into our reptilian brain of fight or flight.

Wisdom comes to us when we trust our body soul, our intuition, our gut feelings, our imaginations and then use our masculine left brain logic to decide what we need to do. And always, we have to take our values and virtues into consideration. It's interesting that we call it the 'corona -virus' – corona implies the crown chakra, the place where we connect to our Higher Self and spiritual guidance as well as Crone – the crown of feminine being and wisdom.

I would imagine that this means we have to re-connect with our higher selves to understand what this moment in time wants from us. We can discover messages in the books we read, the movies we watch, the inspiration that comes from being out in Nature. But most especially from our dreams and our meditation and our shamanic journeys.

I watched Frozen II the other night. It was all about change. The little snowman. Olaf, said something in the beginning of the movie about change. Change mocks us with her beauty. I love that! We say we want to change because we see the beauty and necessity in it. The need for it. And yet, are we changing our habits or just waiting to get back to them? Is change mocking us or are we willing to embrace her beauty?

Taurus crescent Moon with Venus above

The other night, the Taurus crescent Moon hung in the western sky with Venus shining brightly above her. Orion the Hunter rose up behind them, seeking his quarry. This Taurus Moon opens us to the Earth's imagination and with Venus, the Evening Star, they both embody the Wisdom of the Earth. Taurus embodies the Spirit of Aries' primal fire.

The Moon and Venus embody what we need now to survive and thrive during this crucial time in our history, this time of conscious evolution. The Taurus crescent Moon invites us to envision what we want in this Aries lunar cycle. Venus in Taurus embodies our need to feel safe and secure, healthy and creative, compassionate and passionate. They're working together to help us imagine a new Earth and to help each of us create our own unique life and beliefs.

When we come out of this, will our world go back to the same old, same old ways? Or will people demand and create different ways to do work and school, travel and leisure, creativity and life. Will we as a culture open ourselves to the many dimensions of reality beyond the physical? Can we look behind the veils that separate us and notice how connected we are on different levels – not just the material.

I think Saturn's journey through Aquarius until the beginning of July will help us open up spaces we've keep hidden from ourselves. And with Mars' entry into Aquarius on Monday March 30^th and conjunction with Saturn on Tuesday March 31^st, we might see a hint of what is coming in the future when Jupiter and Saturn meet on December 21, 2020 to begin a new cycle of cultural change, a new model of being that helps us participate and prosper in the collective.

There have been 4 cycles that have ended and begun while in the sign of Capricorn these past months. New cycles of how society and the individual work. The big one was on January 12, 2020 when Saturn and Pluto combined to destroy (Pluto) old social structures (Saturn) that no longer work. But also, out of the ashes will come rebirth (Pluto) of new forms and structures of society. Then Mars and Pluto meet up on March 23, 2020 to begin real work on things. On April 4, 2020 Jupiter and Pluto will met up, starting a new cycle of expansion – of death and/or rebirth.

All three of these cycles end and began at 23-26* Capricorn. Everyone will feel the effects but for anyone with planets at these degrees, especially in Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn, who will be doubly energized for transformation.

As our regular reality is ripped away, this is the moment to look at our lives symbolically. If we can imagine ourselves on the hero's journey, we're at the moment where the hero/ine encounters the darkness, the danger, the initiation. We have a collective responsibility (Saturn in Aquarius) to work on our own darkness, our wounds, our unconsciousness until we get it. Things are going to bubble up for us – as we are stuck in small places. Don't waste this hard time – this is the darkness where the new seed has to grow in.

This is a lesson about evolving our souls. It is a moment for conscious evolution.

So look for the blessings of our self-isolation. We've all been given a chance to meditate on what we want to do and where we want to put our energies, individual energies which make up the larger collective. It's a perfect time to really transform our society. We're experiencing a breakdown. Why not turn it into a breakthrough?

Selections from Wisdom's Daughters:  How Women Will Change the World by Cathy Pagano.