“We are here to make a better world… The lesson of the 60's is that people who cared enough to do right could change history…We ended the idea that you could send half-a-million soldiers around the world to fight a war that people do not support. We ended the idea that women are second-class citizens. We made the environment an issue that couldn't be avoided. The big battles that we won cannot be reversed. We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical, brave, silly, headstrong and scared half to death. And we were right.”  Abbie Hoffman

“Make Love Not War”

In the summer of 1967, “hippies” gathered in droves in America’s public parks, in Haight-Asbury in San Francisco and on the opposite coast in NYC’s Central Park, to celebrate what would henceforth become known as “The Summer of Love”.   These “love-ins” were accompanied by plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll. “The Summer of Love” has it’s archetype in pagan fertility rituals dating back to the Venus-ruled matriarchal “Age of Taurus” (4000-2000 BC), when mass fornication honored the Great Goddess, and insured the continuation of the species and the health of the crops. Patriarchal religions dispensed with such practices as they were considered to be, well, “pagan”. The “Summer of Love” in 1967 resurrected long dormant natural instincts. Participants, in their youthful hedonism, cared little about appearances or the consequences of their actions.

“Free love” reached its culmination in 1969 with the advent of the Woodstock Music Festival. This event, equally famous for its protest songs and acid trips, became synonymous with the counterculture movement. The ‘60’s was, in many ways, a decade of  “lost innocence”, marred by JFK, MLK and RFK’s assassinations, the Vietnam War, race riots, campus demonstrations and police brutality that galvanized young activists. “Make Love not War” was the mantra of the day. The youthful rebellion of the “Baby Boomers” (Pluto in Leo generation) who “turned on, tuned in and dropped out”, in turn “turned off” a lot of “grown-ups” (their Pluto in Cancer parents). The generation gap was born.

Fast-Forward to the Present

Are we in for a replay in 2004? The opening quotation from counterculture icon, Abbie Hoffman, has a hauntingly prescient ring and hints at some unfinished business. Controversies over love (updated to 2004, e.g. same sex marriage) and war (Iraq is compared often to Viet Nam) are back in the headlines along with their celestial counterparts, Venus and Mars (as above so below). Last summer, Mars the War God took the spotlight. All eyes (and lots of telescopes and satellite cameras) focused on the red planet as it reached perihelion (closest to the sun) and perigee (closest to earth in 73,000 years) in August of 2003. Martian activity has escalated in the interim. This year, on June 8^th, “Love Goddess Venus” took center stage, as she visibly transited across the surface of the sun—the divine feminine principal lobbying for equal time. However, to paraphrase a popular advertising slogan, “You have a long way to go, baby”. Feminist agendas have long been undervalued in our patriarchal culture. Venus and Mars represent oppositional polarities. The difficulties of reconciliation have been widely publicized through the series of popular books where Mars & Venus square off in real-life scenarios from the bedroom to the boardroom. As always, we continue to search for balance and integration.

 Oh, Venus

Venus transits, like the one on June 8^th, follow a particular pattern. Even though Venus passes between Earth and the sun every 584 days, their paths (ecliptics) cross only every eight years, and only when their orbits are aligned (they are tilted at different degrees) does a transit occur. This phenomenon generally occurs in pairs, separated by eight years, about 120 years apart. The last transit was in 1882 and the next will be in 2012. As with all astrological events, each occurrence “rules” the period until the next event. The eight year time frame until June 6, 2012 is a transformational period, considered by many to be an energy portal into” The New Golden Age”. Due to a prediction in the Mayan calendar, indigenous spiritual leaders and “New Agers” alike agree that 2012 is “the year to watch” for “the end of time as we know it”. The eight year window between now and 2012 also coincides with the remaining time frame of the Neptune/Uranus mutual reception (Neptune in Aquarius/Uranus in Pisces), a catalytic matrix that formed earlier this year and will terminate at the end of 2011. How can we prepare for the coming transformation? How can we assist? And what is the role of Venus?

The symbols and metaphors of the Venus transit and solar conjunction hold the key to answering these questions. Photos show the relative size of Venus (a tiny dot) compared to the sun, providing a graphic illustration of the small sphere of influence (pun intended) of Venusian, “yin” values against the backdrop of our dominant “yang” culture as symbolized by the sun. Size matters! Metaphorically, one can appreciate the enormity of the task ahead to balance these polarities. However, balance can be achieved through a change of perspective. Hypothetically, if we were as close to Venus as we are to the moon a Venus solar eclipse would be possible. As we know from the example of our moon, even considering its size relative to the sun, when distance shrinks, eclipses happen! By this yardstick, our assignment in the next eight years is to move closer to Venus—symbolically of course--to embrace and empower the influence of the “Goddess of Love and Beauty” on Earth.

 The Goddess in the Underworld

Venus is always retrograde during her solar transit. Just after turning retrograde on May 17^th she characteristically disappeared from the night sky. In myth, this invisible period is considered her time of journeying to the underworld, the domain of Hades or Pluto. Coincidentally, during the current retrograde period (May 17 to June 29) the love planet, traveling through the constellation of Gemini, is also opposing Pluto, Lord of Darkness. A Venus retrograde is a time for re-evaluation of our priorities, values and relationships. This opposition provides an additional opportunity to examine how our fear based beliefs (Pluto in Sagittarius) are holding us back from fulfilling our hearts desires (Venus).  After a sojourn of several weeks in the dark, Venus emerges again—this time as the morning, not the evening star. A hopeful “sign” of a new dawn ahead.

 Historical Perspective

All Venus transits of the last thousand years have occurred on the axis of Gemini and Sagittarius. These two signs, representing opposite poles of thinking, embody our ideas, opinions and beliefs, and most importantly our cosmology and understanding of universal truth. Oppositions are eventually integrated to create new paradigms. Even though no one was watching until the 17^th century (the dot was too small to see with the unaided eye) it is still possible to backtrack historically andtrace the evolution of issues that have dominated past transits. It appears that these occurrences have signaled tremendous breakthroughs in the shaping of our worldview. In 1518, for example, Magellan circumnavigated the globe and proved that the world was round! ( A triumph over “flat-world” thinking.) Other significant advances were the completion of the first transatlantic telegraph cable and the conceptualization of the telephone—technological advances which shrunk the planet and foreshadowed the globalization of communications made possible by today’s internet. Many are speculating that the legacy of the current epoch will be a new paradigm in human consciousness. The Suffragette movement emerged as a force during the last Venus transit. Women’s issues are a top Venusian priority and still a present day concern. Venus also rules diplomacy and relationships. Lots more work lies ahead--ending war and creating permanent peace and cooperation among nations.  “Make Love Not War”.

 The Summer of “Love and Light”

Many of my friends and family reported feeling exceptionally good, e.g. happy, uplifted, optimistic about the future, “light-hearted”, if you will, on June 8^th— whether they were consciously aware of the transit or not. The influx of “good vibrations” onto planet Earth was discernible. A Sun/Venus conjunction conjoins the love planet and the source of light for our solar system. Light is often understood as “enlightenment” or wisdom. Therefore, a Sun/Venus conjunction can be a powerful metaphor for the marriage of “Love and Light”. “Love and Light” is the “New Age” mantra.

In a noteworthy astrological relationship, both Venus and Pluto (opposing and retrograde) disposit (connect) to the current transiting nodes in Scorpio and Taurus. The transiting nodes are indicators of a “destiny path” for the times. (They change sign annually.) Coincidentally, these same nodes were transiting during the “Summer of Love” in 1967. We are getting the message that it is now time to advance the conversations that were begun then (see Abbie Hoffman’s opening quotation) to the next level. Nearly 40 years have passed in the interim. In 2004, the planets are signaling that it is incumbent upon us to re-evaluate our worldview, especially concerning the role of power between individuals and among nations. Will we move forward into the future with love or in fear? Can we reclaim and integrate valuable parts of the past--the sense of possibility, passion, vision and idealism that rose from our collective hearts in the “Summer of Love”? The whole generation of 60’s “love children” is now approaching 60, as a chronological age. In the Aquarian shadow of this Pluto in Leo generation, a long dormant dream of a better world awaits re-awakening. This time around, we must couple our passion with wisdom--with thoughtful reform, not rebellion. We have an eight year window ahead, of which this summer’s Venus transit is the kick-off event. Let us commit to moving forward with new hope, armed with more effective tools (especially in the areas of communication and relationship), to create a brighter future. The Goddess has given us a beacon to follow, in this “The Summer of Love and Light”.

 “We are here to make a better world.”

All material is copyrighted by Judith Goldberg and may be reproduced only in full with permission and full credit.

Judith Goldberg, MFA has a Master’s Degree in Art Education from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a certificate in Karmic Astrology from Creative Choices, Inc. Judith is a Vocational Astrologer in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland. She welcomes your comments and questions. You may reach her at judith.goldberg@verizon.net .