Planets: Venus—ray 5 (sacred)

D Ray 5 (sacred planet)

Method: Refinement of the mind, appreciation of intelligent division

Venus: general information

Venus exemplifies one of the major shifts in Esoteric Astrology from the familiar. While embodying the principle of love-wisdom as originating in Ray 2, the planet also transmits the intelligent division and “science” of Ray 5 (see the fifth ray triangle). The best way of understanding this is symbolised by the well-known geometry of the golden section or golden proportion, where the smaller part is to the greater as the greater is to the whole; a ratio approximated in the Fibonacci sequence (in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones). This proportion appears throughout nature as the way in which matter can be arranged in an optimum yet beautiful way, symbolising the real “scientific beauty” that Venus embodies.

Venus also represents the individual soul which, in the theosophically-derived system followed in Esoteric Astrology, is the root of the real self “behind” the personality, carrying the essential systemic principle of love-wisdom (embodied in the sun of our solar system) during the process of conscious evolution or the “path of discipleship”. In the inner psychology of the subtle bodies that make up human existence the soul or “causal body” exists between the abstract higher mind and the rational self, and is held to preserve and process the knowledge gained from the experience of each incarnation, retaining the resulting wisdom between each. This human-level role is derived from the idea that, for humanity, Venus in this solar system is the soul to the Earth as personality.

The rulerships of Venus follow the rather mysterious role of the planet in esoteric astrology, from the personal in Taurus and Libra, through the esoteric in Gemini and the hierarchical and universal in Capricorn. Once the esoteric psychological and cosmic schemes are grasped, the complex role of Venus becomes easier to work with.

It is because Venus thus relates certain pairs of opposites that she has been erroneously connected in the minds of men with sex and the sex life and with the relation of the physical opposites, male and female. (EA 355-6)

The fascinating and crucial relation between “five” and “two-ness” is explained by the relation between the main (systemic) Ray 2 and the individual Ray 5 spark of soul on the higher mental levels, symbolised in Bailey’s esoteric Christianity as the “Christ Principle” and the individual human soul on the higher mental levels:

in esotericism the two and the five, the Son, and the Sons of Mind, are closely allied (TCF 1170)

Venus and the Esoteric Schools

Connected to eight of the planets are details of associated esoteric schools. Apparently it is not possible to touch upon the other planetary schools, nor would it profit. (TCF 1179). Originally in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, these cryptic and evocative summaries describe the role of that planet in terms drawn from the obscure esoteric cosmology of Theosophy, where planets themselves are individual entities developing in a yet more vast process of cosmic evolution. Some (glamour warning!) AI visualisations of planetary esoteric schools have been adapted from their descriptions. They appear inspiring and offer a rough impressionistic image, but beware—they’re pure fantasy!

Venus is included as The School with Five Strict Grades:

This again is a planetary scheme closely related to ours, but its planetary Logos is in a more advanced group of students in the cosmic sense than is our planetary Logos. Most of its hierarchical instructors come from the fifth cosmic plane, and are a peculiar group of Manasadevas of very exalted rank. They are each depicted in the archives of our Hierarchy as holding a trident of fire surmounted by five green emeralds. (EA 693-5, TCF 1179)

Venus: Rulerships

• Orthodox: Taurus Libra
• Esoteric: Gemini
• Hierarchical: Capricorn

Orthodox: Taurus ⇧

Esoteric Astrology this rulership involves the unique relation of Venus to the Earth, and touches upon one of the mysteries of the Ageless Wisdom (EA 382) because Venus is to… Earth what the higher Self is to the Personality [which] brings about a much closer relation between Taurus and the Earth than perhaps exists in any other zodiacal relation where our planet is concerned (EA 383). The fact that Venus is a sacred planet and the Earth isn’t has a bearing on this relation regarding:

a deep mystery of relativity, of interplay and of eventual revelation. This revelation as to the relation of the Earth’s alter ego to the world of human life will only be revealed at the third initiation, at which time all glamour and illusion is dissipated and “the light which shines through the eye of the Bull will be unimpeded” and carry light into the darkness. (EA 383-4)

There follows an explanation about the relation of the personality to the higher self being an esoteric parallel to sexual union, and how—although we cannot force that union physically (no matter how intimate)—we are essentially seeking in physical expression the soul-personality wholeness we really long for.

This carries the legacy of Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s Symposium about the conjoined beings (male, female and androgynous) that Zeus split into two, because their completeness gave them an immense strength and ambition rivalling that of the gods. After the split (and after Zeus subsequently repositioned their genitals to experience pleasure when conjoined!) they became preoccupied with seeking their “other half” in order to restore their original wholeness. (Symposium 189c) The popular interpretation of this tale as soul mates limits it to material relationships, but esoteric philosophy sees an allegory of the human journey: from an original unconscious and innocent whole; through the personality being developed and becoming painfully alienated from the inner self or soul; to a conscious reunion of personality and soul—a unified human self—at the third initiation when the personal self is transcended; a view elaborated by Pausanias who states that those who love the soul remain devoted for life, for [they are] attached to something enduring (183e). In relation to Taurus, this esoteric correspondence to sex becomes the relation of the lower nature to the higher Self which is:

…then lifted up into the light of day to reach complete union with divinity. Sex (hitherto a purely physical function, sometimes under the impulse of love) is elevated into its rightful plane as the divine marriage, carried out and consummated upon the levels of soul awareness. Humanity seeks through physical expression to produce the inner fusion and harmony they crave but this cannot be done. (EA 385, edited)

Sex, as a symbol of inner duality which must be itself transcended and wrought into a unity cannot be resolved by physical means or rituals because it is a transcendence in consciousness. In the cosmic planetary sense, the relation between the Earth and Venus must eventually work out into symbolic expression upon the physical plane (EA 385). In other words, the hint is that when the Earth reaches the state of becoming a sacred planet, its bond with Venus as its “soul” will become apparent in material life, both on an individual and (more distantly in time) planetary scale.

Venus connotes [even with] only a glimmer of occult truth, that which is mental [the esoteric plane of the soul], …concerns final sublimation, …deals with sex and …must work out into symbolic expression upon the physical plane. (EA 384)

See the related triangle Taurus-Venus-Earth for more details about this connection.

Orthodox: Libra ⇧

To follow

Esoteric: Gemini ⇧

The role of Venus in the emergence of humanity from the animal kingdom is a major theme in the esoteric philosophy. The term “Individualisation” is used for this process, and the entire role of the connection between Earth and Venus is a crucial part of understanding this.

The fact that Gemini is the third sign and embodies what is called “a third potency” enabled it to reach, with its force, the third kingdom and produce that reaction which resulted in the individualising or the humanising of its higher forms of life. (EA 355)

The above describes—in the occult philosophy—the emergence of humanity (4th kingdom) from the animal (3rd kingdom), and the mythology of Venus and Capricorn.

Hierarchical: Capricorn ⇧

…Venus is also the hierarchical ruler of Capricorn, thus showing the power of the mind and its place and purpose in connection with both the major human crises: Individualisation and Initiation. (EA 355)

“Initiation” here means the stage of personal integration, so that the personality becomes solely the vehicle for the less strictly personal aims of the inner self or “soul”. Ray 5 “pours through” Capricorn to Earth via Venus in this case.

Everything abstract and formless needs form and will refine that form to suit its purpose. In the resulting processing of experience is our esoteric role in the refinement of matter. For the deeper significance see Makara—the cryptic “secret of the crocodiles” and the mythology of Venus in Capricorn. Also see the 5th hierarchy (EA 37, 45-49), the fifth kingdom and the Lords of Flame.

[After] the third initiation [we] can consciously mount the Cardinal Cross, [and are] released from the ruling of Saturn and [come] under the influence of Venus, …ruler of the Hierarchy which is that of the Crocodiles. [Only] upon the Cardinal Cross [does] the significance, purpose and potencies of the Creative Hierarchies become clear… (EA 163-4)

Venus decanates

In conventional astrology, decanates simply follow the rulerships of each elemental triad, but Esoteric Astrology has inconsistent information. See notes about the decanates, and the “decans” tab under each sign.

Venus Dignities

• Exaltation: Pisces
• Fall: Virgo
• Detriment: Aries Scorpio

Exaltation in Pisces ⇧

To follow (explain “reunited but with no binding thread”)

According to Greek mythology, the fire-breathing monster Typhon was about to devour Aphrodite (the Roman Venus) and her son Eros (the Roman Cupid), so they turned into fish and jumped into the Euphrates River to make a great escape. Mother and son tied themselves together with a cord to make sure they would not lose one another in the tumbling waters. –Bruce McClure and Kelly Kizer Whitt

Diognetus Erythraeus says that once Venus [Aphrodite] and her son Cupid [Eros] came in Syria to the river Euphrates. There Typhon… suddenly appeared. Venus and her son threw themselves into the river and there changed their forms to fishes, and by so doing this escaped danger.” —Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2.30. From Τυφωευς (Typhus), the Theoi Project

Fall in Virgo ⇧

To follow

Detriment in Aries ⇧

To follow

Detriment in Scorpio ⇧

To follow