Themes
Of Creation - Working With Venus, Jupiter and Neptune Themes
Maggie Kerr
(AAT.Dip.Couns.)
In my article “Themes of Depression - Working with Mars, Saturn
and Pluto Themes”, I explored a few ideas around the male or animus
aspect of our whole person psyche. This time I’m going to “play”
in the feminine department, however, before I get to where I’m going,
we need to just cover a few basic concepts. Fundamental within my view
of the Planetary archetypal model, is the principle that, as metaphysics
shows us, the human being is actually systems of energy which are meant
to interact and interface with one another.
I have included the Planetary Tree again
here - click here
- (in case you missed the last article), which models the positive (yang),
negative (yin) and neutral (mental) qualities…which of course arise
from the Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable qualities (and therefore Crosses)
respectively. The object of the exercise therefore, is to reach a point
in our journey to wholeness and Selfhood, where we in some measure integrate
each of theses qualities into a balanced expression. So Soul (Cardinal
Cross ruled by the Moon), Ego (Fixed Cross ruled by the Sun) and the Mental
aspect or Mind (Mutable Cross ruled by Mercury), each need to be developed
and or healed to create the synthesis of the pyramidic three fold or Spiritual
system…and come to ourselves and our creative potential.
So over these past couple of decades the Group Soul has been going through
this process if you like, as the outer planets came through giving us
all a sensational time (to say the least) as we all were confronted with
our dragons as Pluto moved through Scorpio, and now confronting us with
the true nature of our new our ideals and beliefs (or lack of them) as
he slides through Sag. During the 80s we all went through “Calcinatio”…
as the purifying fires of the Fixed Cross did their work and cleaned up
a few egos!
This was also the era of women beginning to come into their power more
gently whilst also in their strength, as there was an opening in the feminine
process for us all! So as I see our Industrialised history over the past
few hundred years (notice the description is not Spiritualised!), we have
been playing in lots of yang and neutral or mental territory, as we hurdled
headlong toward our cultural goal of success! We are masters of our universe…we
can kill it, control it and out think it!!! But we still haven’t
got it have we? Because getting it means we have to get Souled!!!
It is interesting when you look at the Cardinal Cross with Saturn at
its’ MC, to see how the industrial machine has been running the
place lately. After all we come into matter to master it. And dear Mother
Moon resides at the base of this cross, denoting the Soul awareness, and
subsequent journey to emotional safety, being what is truly required to
bring that mastery to its’ true expression. They (the Esoterisists)
say that the Souls greatest point of growth is when it becomes aware of
itself! i.e. when we begin to become Soul centered instead of Ego Centered.
The second step in Soul acceleration is when it influences the ego to
begin to serve humanity! (Aquarius opposite Leo on the Fixed Cross).
So last time we played on the Yang side of the system, briefly exploring
the nature of the dynamic planets, their relationship to each other and
ultimately to the Solar force which provides the Spiritualising energy
or Prana or Shakti or whatever term you care to use So the process of
purifying the Ego (Sun) requires learning how to cleanly assert our will
(Mars), clearing our fears and understanding our Karmic lessons (Saturn),
and harnessing our power so we move beyond ‘control over’
to safe empowerment (Pluto).
So what is required to open and synthesise the feminine or Yin lineage
of planetary archetypes? Well let’s have a look. With the Moon as
the ‘light’ which focalises this energy system, the essence
here is feeling. We cannot know the joy of the creative heart (Sun) unless
we can feel it…and yet over all the years of my counselling work
the issue of feeling lies at the heart of most peoples’ unhappiness.
So many of us received messages when we were small telling us not to feel…it
is too dangerous to feel because there’s a good chance we will have
to admit to our feelings of loss and grief and despair and so on.
In the Transactional Analysis model I
illustrated also with the last article - click
here - we saw how the Child Ego state is ruled by the Moon.
This is the part of us which feels, and has needs. So feeling and needs
are inextricably interwoven in their expression…and if we got messages
from our parents telling us to “think with your head not with your
heart”, and “stop that sookie crying…get up and get
on with it”…and so on and so on…then we not only closed
down our ability to feel our grief and pain, but also we can’t feel
our joy and passion and excitement! We also closed down our ability to
allow ourselves to need or meet our own needs…let alone ask for
them to be met by others!
From this point we obviously don’t feel very valuable and worthwhile…so
our Venusian voice is undervalued, and operates dysfunctionally as unconscious
obsessive compulsions (link here to Neptunian addictions), rather than
free choices being made by us, based on Venus’ capacity to go our
and serve the Moon by getting her needs met. In the T.A. model we saw
how Venus lives also in the Child Ego State. When we were small (beginning
from age 1 at the first Venus return) we began to comply and adapt within
our environment to try and get our needs met.
How we learned to do this will be based on Venus sign/house/aspects.
Venus is the “Adapted Child” who learned to “please
them to get along around here”, and for many people they are still
trying to “please them” to get stroked and loved. But guess
what…it doesn’t work! And then Mars (the “Free Child”
who also lives in the Child Ego state” becomes angry or frustrated
because all our attempts to comply and please are not bearing fruit! So
our dysfunctional Mars, Saturn and Pluto bits kick in and we try all our
power and control games to get our needs met!
So an important aspect of the healing to wholeness journey requires that
we become aware of our compliance patterns, and begin to learn to meet
our own needs or cleanly ask (functional Mars asserting) for our needs
to be met. This is obviously primary theme territory for very Libran and
7th house types. If you offer these types this simple idea you can support
them quickly and easily to begin to transition to a more conscious experience
of their lives.
Now the Jupiter connection here is an obvious call around themes of belief
and meaning. If we don’t feel worthy enough (Venus) to be in the
world safely (Moon), then we are not going to believe the world is a very
safe and nurturing place. So meaning goes out the window! I have had a
number of people question why I have ascribed Jupiter within the feminine
line, as we are familiar with him mythically as a more Heroic archetypal
function. I do not debate that within a certain level of the Greco/Roman
mythic tradition he indeed fulfills a more animus orientated function.
However, this tradition is primarily patriarchal and not particularly
Soul Centered, so in my simple energy system he is allowed to take on
a more feminine role.
Particularly when we recognise his dualistic relationship with Saturn,
I can’t help but relate to these Lords of Karma as offering us Yin
and Yang polarity. I believe (Sag. Moon talking here!) that the getting
of Wisdom is primarily a very feminine affair, as wisdom arises from nurture
and nature, not from any man made creation. It is not until we have a
degree of Soul awareness that we are able to gently reassure ourselves
that our Saturnine tests contain our path to wisdom. It is also from this
point that we are able to ascertain the truth within the knowledge of
the many paths to the Self, and not just blindly believe what it says
in the book! The dissemination of knowledge is also a feminine affair,
and the wise teacher nurtures the pupil who is ready, rather than inflicting
their version of truth upon all and sundry whether they want it or not!
Without a sense of meaning and purpose for our Souls’ work, we
cannot take the final step out to Neptune, and open to the true faith
and compassion which lives in the feminine. Neptune is the connection
through the Crown Chakra which invites inspiration from the Higher Mind
(Uranus on the Mental level), and is the source of our relationship to
the Divine. Neptune is the part of us which seeks to merge with something
greater than our limited self, knowing that the very nurture which is
so essential to the Self, is found within ourselves, before we can ever
project outside of ourselves and find it in the world of relationship.
Neptune is also the higher octave of Venus, so when we are unconscious
and/or still playing out the Venusian compulsion to “please them
to get loved”, we will send Neptune out to bat, to dream up our
divine lover in an attempt to create this merge which we intrinsically
need. The trouble is Neptune is the master of illusion and deceit, and
how many of us can relate to the sense of frustration and confusion when
the “perfect” new lover turns out to be merely human, and
also invested in getting us to fill them up and make them whole! “Wait
a minute that was what you were supposed to do for me! Now I’m angry
with you because you are not what you are supposed to be”…says
our Venus. Neptune and Venus get together and participate in the Prince
and Princess myths, replete with their need to be saved, or to save. Most
of our western culture is still immersed in co-addictive and co-dependant
relationship for this reason. So one of the tasks in healing this aspect
of our Moon centered feminine, requires that we come out of this illusory
energy system, and begin to live as whole people within our own right.
Neptunian emotional themes contain issues about ‘boundaries’…what
is my personal myth about myself? (remember what was your favourite fairy
story as a child and this will give you great insight!)…who am I
when I am alone and not under the influence of someone else’s projection
onto me of who they want me to be for them? Opening the door to let the
light of truth on to these questions is very important, and if you are
still the type of person who feels lost and lonely6 and needy when your
partner is not around, and who feels like you have lost your sense of
meaning,…then you have a little work to do on your Venus, Jupiter
and Neptune facets of your psychological makeup!
The other area which is on offer to us once Neptunes’ higher frequency
opens to us functionally is the beatific quality of our creativity. Neptune
is the poet/mystic…the dreamer. Carl Jung had a beautifully simple
model for qualifying the two main types of people on the planet. A Type
and B Type…I love it when its’ simple! In the Toltec system
or model they call these the “Stalkers” and “The Dreamers”
respectively. Now stalkers are Yang folks with lots of Mars Saturn and
Pluto up and running. Our western world values these types right…the
movers and shakers. However, our culture does not value the Dreamers or
B Types very much - they are seen as weak and not particularly contributive
to society. I mean after all they are only the artists and musicians and
writers and muses.
Well as I see our current point of human evolution at this Millennium
time, we need to have a really good look at the things we value in our
culture, and make some major decisions about re-valuing many of them.
Value is a Venusian affair, and our materialistic system places value
on the money which is created from misusing resources at an alarming rate!
This is what provides the meaning and purpose to most folks in the “machine”.
This is supposed to make our emotional Moon self safe! What a joke. Then
they get their dysfunctional Neptunes out and lie to themselves and the
rest of us about how the whole system does not rip off, degrade and dehumanise
the masses along the way!
I feel it is very important for each of us to explore the Neptunian creative
aspect of our lives, so we can rekindle (or develop perhaps for the first
time) pursuits which enrich our lives and don’t require dynamic
function. Art and music are the obvious arenas…anything which takes
you out of your mind and ego, and simply allows you to feel inspired to
generate something beautiful. Writing (Jupiter) about our experiences
and feelings is a fantastic way to support our healing process…keeping
dream journals…going to art, mosaic, dance, pottery classes. This
is all about supporting ourselves to learn to allow and flow - the opposite
of planning, organising and making things happen!
Learning about the healing arts is also positive Neptunian expression.
Nurturing ourselves means being able to heal ourselves on both physical
and emotional levels - so daily practice and use of the vibrational remedies
and so on, is so simple and absolutely practical. If you are feeling exhausted,
angry, anxious or stressed then you need to know it is time to go and
have a re-birthing session, or meditate or practice your own brand of
Spiritual devotion so you can connect with your Higher Self so you can
make sense of why you are out of your flow. Sometimes we simply need to
dig in the garden and plant some flowers to uplift our energies - Venus
after all is the polar counterpoint of Mars. In so called primitive cultures
they understood the value of this level of experience and honoured it
as the shamanistic path. I feel it is time for us to do the same - in
a simple sense - in a daily sense.
By working with awareness to develop the positive potential of your Venus,
Jupiter and Neptunes’ sign/house and aspects, you are honouring
your Souls’ path, and providing the nurture to your Sun, Mars, Saturn
and Pluto which only you can provide. And along the way you are healing
not only yourself, but supporting the Group Soul or collective vibration
to come out of pain and separation, and into the sense of belonging and
meaning which lives within the heart of each of us!
If you are interested in my work which I call Therapeutic Astrology,
please feel free to contact me. The Universal Astrology Correspondence
Course and 4 workbooks are also now available. With love Maggie email
- maggiekerr@winshop.com.au
Maggie has been a full time counselling astrologer for 18 years, and
a teacher for the past 12 years on the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia.
She founded the School of Inner Guidance & Knowledge in 1993, which
offered both 3 year astrology courses, and related healing modality subjects
for growth and transformation. She is the founder and editor of “Sign
of the Times” publication. She has published many articles, a tape
series, and lectures in Australia & Overseas. Maggie’s studies
have integrated Esoteric Astrology and Metaphysics, with Psychotherapeutic
tools including T.A., Gestalt Therapy, Voice Dialogue, Client Centred
Counselling and Jungian Psychology. She also incorporates Mythology, Guided
Imagery and Dream Symbolism into her work, and is committed to the development
of modern astrology being practiced as a healing modality. She is an FAA
accredited teacher and holds the Southern Cross Education award for 2000.
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