Venus + Crown
September 11, 2023 at 3:31 pm EST ~ 13° Leo ~
Venus & the Moon meet in LEO, marking the first gate / seventh vestment of Venus as Morning Star.
“The world is perfected through our stumbling” could be my current life mantra, and I’m sure you can relate. This is true when it comes to how I stumbled into an understanding of Venus, the Moon, & the Chakras. I have a knack for finding obscure data amongst the information wave. That’s not entirely how it works… I have a relationship with the quantum field through practice and atunement & a high sensitivity to subtle energetics. So when information comes in that is meant for me to notice, it sounds different. (Mercury out of bounds in Sagittarius is my chart ruler, too). That is how I discovered the story of this timely & obscure astrological event that is perpetually unfolding every month in the sky… a hint from the heavens, a lot of research & synchronicity, and the direct experience of observing my own life in correlation with the story of these two planets over the course of an entire Venus synodic cycle (specifically the cycle that was just completed January 2022 - August 2023).
Cuneiform tablet similar to what Enheduanna would have scribed the first authored literature in human history. Click the image to learn more about her life & historical context.
SO. Here’s a brief backstory. In ancient Sumeria, a high priestess named Enheduanna wrote the Descent of Inanna around 2300 B.C as a way to blend two cultures in ancient Mesopotamia. It was a political move, as well as a petition to the powers that be. In this mythic poem, scholars cite Enheduanna as the first author to ever sign her name to her own work. Enheduanna is the modern worlds first poet, the first (not only female) but first person ever to author written works (in cuneiform, you know it’s ancient). Scholar Paul Kriwaczek writes, “Her compositions, though only rediscovered in modern times, remained models of petitionary prayer for [centuries]. Through the Babylonians, they influenced and inspired the prayers and psalms of the Hebrew Bible and the Homeric hymns of Greece. Through them, faint echoes of Enheduanna, the first named literary author in history, can even be heard in the hymnody of the early Christian church.” Chani Nicholas writes a beautiful piece here for anyone interested in the full story. Inanna is Venus, aka Queen of Heaven and Earth, and one might say, the bridge is not Inanna herself, but Enheduanna, the one willing to include her signature as the bridge & embodiment between the heavenly and earthly realms. We are the authors of our own story, and to have a story, one must have context.
Chakras & Cycles
For the intent of this conversation here & now I am sharing with you all a weaving of my studies with astrology & subtle energetics.
Astrology offers opportunities to work with the subtle energetics of planets to encourage and influence the momentum of specific events in our lives. When we become aware of the planets, the stars, the connection of our own lives to the creative cycles unfolding all around us, it opens up possibilities of collaboration, intention, and higher harmonics.
Some say that as Inanna moves through each of the seven gates, we can correlate that to the seven planets. The number seven can also connect with the chakra system. As Venus stationed direct 7 days ago, emerging as morning star from the beams of the Sun, she begins to meet with the Moon on the other side of the lunar cycle. This meeting will happen today with balsamic moon in Leo.
Saturn · Sahasrara · Seventh Gate
The 7th gate that Inanna must pass through in correlation to Venus stationing direct is the gate associated with Saturn and the Crown Chakra. She must remove her crown to begin her descent back into the underworld. It is a reckoning of sorts. A realization that in order to be whole, we must surrender to the call within to create balance & retribution. No one is perfect. To be human is to go through this process of evolution, life itself a balancing act of becoming.
At the 7th Gate, removing or releasing the crown, we let go / surrender to the possibility that we must make amends to the parts of ourself that have been ignored or wronged in relationship to how we have chosen our path so far. A balancing of power between the self & higher order or spiritual destiny. In the myth, the ‘underworld’ is a metaphor for the inner self, and it is a place we greet the results of our actions and face consequences. Have we causes more harm in the world, or more good, and at what cost? It is the journey within that Inanna maps in contemporary understanding. The harm or imbalance cannot be ignored. To open/release the power of the self at each gate is to acknowledge true intentions of our actions and the results therein. The meeting of the Moon & Venus on this side of the retrograde cycle (and the current Venus star point/586 day cycle we began August 13) will happen all within the balsamic phase of the Moon. Release, letting go, and leaning into the unknown to acknowledge what waits in the shadows.
Kelly Surtees writes on the balsamic moon, “The balsamic Moon phase is a time of release, rest and retreat. It can encourage closure and completion, especially for any pressing or unfinished business of the soul.” (1) There is a sensation with this moment of tuning into how we are walking our path. Are we in alignment to our true purpose? Have we gotten carried away in earthly pleasures or distracted with desire? Are our dreams aligned to dharma? What might be weighing on our hearts, calling to our inner knowing, unacknowledged, and requiring our tending now? With Venus at 12° of Leo, fresh out of the retrograde, it is an inner knowing which guides life as the descent within begins.
Drawing Down the Moon
Today, take some time to tune into the crown chakra. This is the space at the very top of your head which opens to the heavens under this astrological event. Open yourself to prayer, meditation, contemplation, and time in nature. There is a meditation offered below. Tune into the lessons of the recent Venus retrograde period. Contemplate the wisdom you have gathered from the tests and turning points in your life. Something else to note… what were you up to around June 20, 2023? That was the last time Venus was at 13° Leo, and at that time would have been her re-claiming the crown of heaven on the other side of the Venus Cazimi before the retrograde station.
Between June 20-September 11 ~ what lessons have you learned? How have you utilized your power? Have you served the self, or have you been of service? Have you been just or have you stretched your authority & power to serve your own desires without regards for others. These are all things to consider. To be Queen requires sacrifice. To be sovereign requires self-awareness. To reconcile & repair requires compassion.
This is a beautiful moment to contemplate the ways in which your intuition calls to restore inner harmony with your connection to source & keeping it real. This could be asking for forgiveness, maybe that is simply to forgive yourself for for actions which might not wholly reflect your truth. Maybe it is a prayer, a release, a surrender, a desire to make amends. Maybe it is the weaving of humility into the next step of your life’s path. A healthy dose of vulnerability & the courage it takes to embody that.
To open the crown chakra is to notice that you are indeed connected to all living things. Sahasrara is the Sanskrit name for the crown chakra, the spiritual center of the body. Steven Surgess writes in his book Everyday Yoga Meditation, "Also called niralambapuri, meaning “dwelling place without support”, and brahmarandhra, “the door of God”, sahasrara chakra is the culmination of our ascent of the astral spine - after achieving self-realization at ajna (third eye chakra), we achieve liberation at sahasrara. To reach this point, first we need to open, balance and energize the six chakras below it through deep meditation.”
From this point in the Venus cycle, I relate the energy available through this passage way to the Caitanya Shakti which flows from the heavens into the crown opening us to knowledge and wisdom, entering from the divine through the seat of consciousness in center of the 7th chakra. In relationship to the Moon & Venus, we can understand this moment as an access point to emboding compassion & righteous sovereignty. To be in right relationship with what it means to be fully human, we connect to both heaven & earth. We balance the scales. We are here for a purpose. It is the balance of karma & dharma. Through the meeting of Venus & the Moon in the sky, we can consciously notice & develop a deeper connection to divine source and earthly wisdom which is our birth rite, and through our active involvement, we can hone and develop the skills necessary to living in alignment & flow with our purpose in this lifetime.
Stephen Bertman contemplates the impact of Enheduanna,
The hymns provide us with the names of the major divinities the Mesopotamians worshipped and tell us where their chief temples were located [but] it is the prayers that teach us about humanity, for in prayers we encounter the hopes and fears of everyday mortal life. (2)
Creative Visualization Practice
Today and throughout the next month, contemplate the space of the crown chakra. Spinning at the top of the head, often intuitively seen as white/clear, violet, or gold, become curious of this energy center and how focus & attention to this space can alter your perception of self & ‘other’. It is here that we realize we are not separate. To draw down the moon in this practice requires compassion. You can do this any time, but it is best to attune to the crown chakra when in a calm & quiet space. As the highest vibrational chakra within the physical body, attuning to this space is best when your physical body is relaxed and your mind is soothed either through meditation, breath work, or another personal practice like walking in nature.
* ☽ Cosmic Crown Meditation ☾*
You may choose to light a candle for this practice if you feel called, and have a pen & paper nearby (as the moon can be a messenger or scribe). Begin by bringing your awareness to the center of your head. You can imagine drawing a line between your two ears, and another from the point between your eyebrows and the base of the skull. At the intersection of these two lines is the pineal gland, the endocrine organ that correlates to the 7th chakra.
Breathe fully into the bottom of your lungs, allowing your belly to relax as you inhale, and lifting the diaphragm which sits right below the ribcage inward & upward as you exhale (aiming to keep the belly soft). Find a flow of long, even breaths, cycling through seven rounds of this deep breathing with your awareness resting in the center of your head.
Gently greet yourself right where you are. Offer kind thoughts to your present awareness, affirming the goodness of your spirit, other spirits, and the Spirit.
With your inner vision (imagination), imagine a silver circle drawn around your feet or where you are seated on the ground, supporting your body and creating a safe space. You are seated in the center of a circular iridescent silver platform. Now, bring your awareness to the center of your head and visualize a violet flame gently rising towards the top of your skull. If you feel called to imagine another color, do so intuitively, always trust your own intuition (white, gold, clear, & violet are the colors of the crown naturally, but yours may be different & the color may change depending on your own experience).
As you focus on the flame, with your imagination, allow the color of the flame to radiate down & around your body. Let that color travel, like roots of light from the flame, down the spine & all the way down the legs, through the feet and into the earth beneath you. Imagine the light spreading out on each side of your body and below your feet/seat, as the air which surrounds your body becomes a field of light much wider and deeper than the point of the flame. You can also imagine roots spreading from the center of your feet down into the earth, sending this light to the soil beneath you. The flame at the center of your head sits at the top of this field of light. Notice if there are any places which seem hard for the light to reach, and gently send love to those areas and release any resistance. You are now bathing in a field of luminous lavender/violet light (or any color of your choosing), as if submerged in the glow.
From the tip of the flame, imagine a silver cord, iridescent/silver/clear sparkling light, almost like smoke rising from the inner flame spiraling upwards to the heavens, connecting to the Moon & Venus. Imagine this iridescent silver/transparent sphere wrapping around Venus & the Moon as they meet in the starry sky like a bubble of light. Say Hello! Open to any insight/messages which arise in this moment, or offer a prayer or intention. You can take this moment to do a stream of consciousness writing. You can speak aloud or offer words from within. It can be an offering of gratitude, a prayer for forgiveness, surrendering something you wish to release, a confession, a request for support, or simply imagine offering a flower (poppies, Calla Lillies, blue lotus for the moon/Roses for Venus/Sunflower for Leo…). Creativity is encouraged, flow with this moment. Once you feel complete, offer thanks, and imagine the silver sphere of light around the planets dissolving back into the darkness of space. Sense the silver cord moving back down to Earth, and gently dissolving into the tip of the flame at the center of your head. Allow the flame to melt the silver light and as it cools, allow the colored light to flow gently down around your body, landing beneath your feet in the circle drawn at the beginning of this meditation. Sit in this pool of light for a moment and notice how your feel. Dissolve any lingering images, thoughts, and sensations & imagine the silver circle beneath you dissolving back into the earth below you with gratitude and love.
** a sweet note for anyone curious ~ I believe in one creator whom animates all living things. By connecting to the Spirit, you are connecting to the highest unifying intelligence. God, Source, Universe… you name it. All aspects of this creation have insight & wisdom to share through divine design. **
