This weekend we will collectively experience a significant planetary transit known as the Venus Cazimi, otherwise known as Venus conjunct the Sun, in Leo. A cazimi—which roughly translates to “in the heart of the Sun”—is the term for when a planet aligns so close to the Sun that it disappears from view in the sky for a couple days. Astronomically speaking, Venus is going through a phase in her synodic cycle where she appears—from our Earthly perspective—to be moving backwards. As she makes this maneuver, she appears as an evening star, she’ll disappear from view when she’s in the heart of the Sun, and then she’ll re-emerge as a morning star. Eventually, she’ll remain “stationary” in the sky for a day or two and then she’ll begin to move forward again. A Venus retrograde occurs once every 18 months, and it is so much more than a time of ex lovers coming back into your life.
The Descent of Inanna
In ancient cultures, a great significance was attached to planetary retrogrades because of this unique transformation from an evening star to a morning star in the sky. The Venus retrograde in particular has many myths associated with it, most notably the ancient Sumerian myth The Descent of Inanna (Inanna is the goddess associated with Venus).
In the myth, Inanna is goddess of the heavens and the Earth, and her sister, Ereshkigal, is the goddess of the underworld. They are perfect foils of one another with Inanna being all that is beautiful surrounding the feminine, and Ereshkigal being all that is dark. Inanna is called to the underworld to attend a funeral, but she is concerned that she will be trapped there and so makes arrangements with her handmaid, Nincubura, to ensure her safe return to the heavens. Inanna adorns herself with 7 protective talismans (among its many esoteric meanings, 7 is a spiritually potent number denoting perfection): a turban, lapis lazuli necklace, egg-shaped beads around her chest, protective breast plate, a golden ring, lapis lazuli measuring rod, and a pala dress.
She arrives in the underworld and Ereshkigal, who has heard that Inanna enlisted Nincubura to help her return to the heavens, wishes to punish Inanna for her hubris. She has her guards escort Inanna through the 7 gates of the underworld and she must surrender one of her protective talismans at each portal. Finally, she arrives naked in front of Ereshkigal and tribunal of underworld judges. They kill Inanna and hang her corpse on a hook.
Nincubura waits 3 days and nights and after Inanna does not return, she carries out the instructions for how to summon her back to the heavens. She asks several of the gods for help and only Enki (the Sumerian Saturn) obliges. He hatches an elaborate plan involving an army of gnats distracting Ereshkigal and delivering a miraculous tincture to Inanna to resurrect her and deliver her out of the underworld.
The Meaning of Descent
The Descent of Inanna isn’t the only myth associated with the Venus retrograde. In fact, it can and has been argued that the story of the Passion of the Christ and his descent into hell for 3 days is just another version of the Venus retrograde epic. And, after all, does Christ not pass through his own portals where he is increasingly stripped of his protections? It’s no coincidence that there are 14 Stations of the Cross, 14 being a multiple of 7. Does Christ not also arrive naked and hung to die on a torture device?
It makes sense that in our collective efforts to make meaning of our experiences we narrativize the moments of agony and suffering that eventually lead to rebirth, triumph, and salvation. Nothing is without cost. In order for Venus to make her way from the dusk sky to dawn, she must disappear from view altogether. You must lose your life to find it.
Venus Cazimi at 20° Leo, August 13, 5:10 AM MST
We can think of the Venus cazimi on Sunday as the climatic moment in this grand story. It is the moment when Inanna is killed and her body hung on a hook. It is the moment of truest despair when we think all hope is lost and gone forever. But it is also a moment of glare, literally. Think of when you’re driving a car into the sunset/sunrise and the glare of the Sun hits the windshield at just the right angle and you are temporarily blinded. You take caution, but you can’t stop driving. You must move through that particular angle and relationship to the Sun in order to see again.
It’s one thing to go through this particular transit where it feels like our relationships (Venus) are going through a baptism by fire (Sun), to either be burned to the ground or revitalized with an electric power surge. But that’s not the only thing going on in the sky this Sunday.
Uranus at 22° Taurus will be in a square to the Venus cazimi, which will amplify feelings of instability around how we creatively express ourselves and individuate ourselves from others. As the Sun renews Venus through a cruel and arduous fire ritual, she’ll also feel pressure from Uranus to change her perspectives. Collectively, we’ll feel like our values are going through an extreme recalibration.
The Moon at 18° Cancer is making a wide trine to Neptune at 27° Pisces, which could be make this already tumultuous time even more emotionally draining.
And, of course, the story of the Summer, the one aspect that’s dialing up the drama reverberating throughout the cosmos: Pluto at 28° Capricorn is at the bending of the Nodes at 28° Aries and Libra. Our fates are realigning. We are re-evaluating our relationships, codependencies, personal liberties, and how we submit to established institutions of power. This Venus cazimi is a fall-to-your-knees moment of absolution. It’s heightened with valuable lessons, power struggles, and chaotic destabilizations. It’s important to remember that these can show up in obvious, external ways, or the storm can rage entirely within us.
This is the moment to surrender entirely, to struggle would be to make the trap jaws tighter. There is new life ahead of us after this moment, and it will be more beautiful than what we could imagine.