Evening Star

Venus retrograde and the significance of 40 days

40 days venus retrograde (This article first appeared in 2014.)

Astrologer Marina Macario makes an interesting point – that the 40 days and 40 nights of the Venus retro period corresponds to the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus traveled in the wilderness.

Forty is mentioned in the bible often, but most famously when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days. Could this be referring to the astrological phenomena of Venus retrograde? After all, Venus has two sides to her. She is the goddess of love and war according to the Babylonians. The word Lucifer (which is often confused with Satan) means light-bringer and refers to Venus in her morning star phase. The ancients said the first few days of her Lucifer phase was a particularly dangerous time. People born with Venus as a morning star are said to rush headlong into love affairs and are very passionate. Venus as an evening star is has more of the receptive, traditional meaning.

You might also be interested  in this earlier article I wrote about the two sides of Venus, and in this article about Lucifer as Venus, the Light Bringer.

I became curious about the significance of 40 days and 40 nights, because before Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for this length of time rain fell on Noah for 40 days and 40 nights.  Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights before he was given the Commandments. Jesus remained on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights after the crucifixion.  And Buddha is said to have fasted and meditated for 40 days and 40 nights before reaching Samadhi.  These 40-day periods seem to relate to periods […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:26:52-05:00October 6th, 2018|Venus|4 Comments
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Venus retrograde in Scorpio: October 5, 2018 – November 16, 2018

Venus retrogradeDeviant Art.  Venus turns retrograde on October 5th and will be retrograde until November 16th, 2018.

Venus usually slips through our lives like a whisper, and we barely experience her fleeting transits. Her influence is usually soft and encouraging and I often say that we only really take notice when we experience discomfort of some kind. Even the challenging transits of Venus are benign, offering us only an opportunity to indulge in greater indulgence.  When Venus is retrograde, however, she moves more slowly and deliberately and her influence is therefore more powerful.  Planets are said to be traveling in retrograde motion when they appear to move backwards from our perspective on earth. During these times their influence causes us to look back instead of forward as we encounter the experiences of that planet.

Venus is famous for her influence on relationships. As the goddess of love and beauty, she bestows an attractive power and grace, but that attractive power draws more than love. It can also a magnet for financial wealth and personal possessions so in that way, Venus is said to rule our values and the things that we love as well as the people. Venus also rules our ability to love and relate to our self, and the kind of talents and personal resources that we possess as well as the material possessions.

Venus only turns retrograde every 18 months or so.  These are excellent times to reconnect with friends or loved ones from the past, or to repair relationships that have suffered.  These are not always the best times to begin new relationships, but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from meeting new people.  Often when Venus is retrograde we can learn a […]

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By |2019-11-10T18:46:24-05:00October 1st, 2018|Planetary cycles|10 Comments
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A very wicked Mercury Retrograde! And “Mercury Max”

Am I the only one who has had a miserable time over the past three weeks?  I’m usually pretty good at navigating through Mercury retrograde periods, but this one really did wreak havoc in many areas of my life.  I can’t count the number of appointments that I either didn’t enter into the calendar or put in the wrong place.  Confusion in communication was rampant, including changing my mind and redoing certain things over and over.

All of this was made worse by the fact that Mercury (communication) aligned with Mars (passion and anger) at the eclipse degree, at the end of August.  Any issues that came up at the time of eclipse continued to erupt at that time.

Richard Nolle is a brilliant astrologer who first coined the term “Supermoon” for a lunation (Full or New Moon) that is closest to the earth.  Another one of his ideas is that of “Mercury Max” – the period of greatest elongation between Mercury and the Sun.  According to Richard, the Mercury Max period ”

begins when evening star Mercury reaches its maximum elongation (greatest distance) east of the Sun; extends through the Mercury retrograde and the inferior Sun-Mercury conjunction, and ends when the little planet as morning star reaches its maximum elongation west of the Sun.

If like me this technical language is difficult to comprehend, the important thing to note is that these cycles occur four times a year in concert with the Mercury retrograde cycles.  The current Mercury Max cycle according to Richard began on July 30th and continued all the way through August, ending around September […]

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By |2019-11-10T18:46:25-05:00September 10th, 2017|Astrology in my world|12 Comments
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Venus retrograde – the significance of 40 days and 40 nights

40 days venus retrogradeVenus turns retrograde only every two years or so which makes it one of the more rare astrological events (the outer planets retrograde every year and Mercury retrogrades four times a year).  When a planet is retrograde, meaning it APPEARS to be moving backwards from our perspective on earth, its influence tends to be more hidden and we generally are urged to look backwards and rectify matters from the past.

Astrologer Marina Macario makes an interesting point – that the 40 days and 40 nights of the Venus retro period corresponds to the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus traveled in the wilderness.

Forty is mentioned in the bible often, but most famously when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days. Could this be referring to the astrological phenomena of Venus retrograde? After all, Venus has two sides to her. She is the goddess of love and war according to the Babylonians. The word Lucifer (which is often confused with Satan) means light-bringer and refers to Venus in her morning star phase. The ancients said the first few days of her Lucifer phase was a particularly dangerous time. People born with Venus as a morning star are said to rush headlong into love affairs and are very passionate. Venus as an evening star is has more of the receptive, traditional meaning.

You might also be interested  in this earlier article I wrote about the two sides of Venus, and in this article about Lucifer as Venus, the Light Bringer.

I became curious about the significance of 40 days and 40 nights, because before Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for this length of time […]

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By |2020-05-15T15:45:39-04:00October 5th, 2014|Planetary cycles, Religion|8 Comments