Beginner’s Guide to the Venus Star
Venus is one of the most awe-inspiring planets to observe. Discover all there is to know about her synodic cycle i.e her orbital relationship to the Sun from our perspective on Earth and the intricate five-pointed Rose she traces in the skies.
What is the Venus Star?
Venus Star is the term I enjoy using in reference to what Arielle Guttman coined as The Venus Star Point®. Guttman over her 35 years of astrological study dedicated herself to the immense task of observing and considering the intricate potency of Venus’ pathway through the Zodiac. My study of the Venus Star is based on her extensive research on the astronomical, astrological, individual and historical implications of the Venus Star which she brought together in “Venus Star Rising : A New Cosmology for the Twenty-First Century” in 2011.
The Venus Star Point®, astrologically, is when Venus conjoins the Sun at the exact same degree. This is also known as a Venus cazimi.
What is a Venus cazimi?
The latin word cazimi derives from the Arabic word "kaṣmīmī," meaning "in the heart" or "in the center”. From a heliocentric perspective* a cazimi is when the Earth and a planet come into perfect alignment with the Sun along their respective orbital pathways. From a geocentric perspective*, within the context of the Zodiac Wheel*, this looks like the Sun and another planet conjoining at exactly the same degree.
A Cazimi is a rare and powerful astrological event that has caught the attention of astronomers for millennia. During a cazimi, the planet is imbued with and strengthened by the ennobling qualities of the Sun. It is a crowning moment for the planet in question, a sort of super-powered celestial event where the planet is received in the heart of the Sun and its own innate qualities are projected out and down onto Earth.
Thus, a Venus Cazimi - taking place every nine months roughly - is when Earth & Venus come into perfect alignment with the Sun along their orbits. Here, Venus is burned into the very heart of the Sun.
In poetic terms, a Venus Cazimi is when the Sun bestows its honour upon Venus and amplifies her field of resonance on Earth. The inherent essential qualities of Venus are projected into the earthly realm, dispersing, diffusing and weaving them into the fabric of our realities. This potent astrological event charges our mortal world with the eternal gifts and blessings of Venus. Imagine this within the context of your birth chart right!
* within the context of the solar system
* from our perspective on earth, within a cosmology that places the earth at the centre
* a 360 degree circle divided into 12 zodiac signs used to map the pathway of the planets and luminaries from our perspective on Earth
“When we are truly in touch with a part of ourselves that is directing us to act in accordance with what makes us feel alive, we are responding to the Venus Star Pentagram and our own Venus Star Point”
— Arielle Gutman
Graph by Kelly Surtees
The Venus Star Pentagram is a potent energetic grid in which Venus’ essence is held and builds channels of exchange and co-creation within the culture and within the hearts of individuals.
This marks the coming together of the five Venus Star Points that are active during any given time period and describes beautifully the cultural and spiritual trends of that era. On the micro scale, in the lives of individuals, the Venus Star Pentagram holds the five Venus Star Point “types” we will encounter. Each point reveals a different type of relational Wisdom and Medicine crucial to the evolution of the Self and of Humanity.
I have tried to keep things as simple as possible here and will refer you to Arielle Guttman’s and Pallas K. Augustine’s websites if you wish to learn more about it.
What is the Venus Star Pentagram?
Here are a few key points that are worth remembering, if this feels too complex please feel free to skip ahead:
Every nine months, there is a Venus cazimi in a particular sign of the Zodiac either when she is Retrograde or when she is Direct.
When she is direct, the cazimi is named Venus’ superior or exterior conjunction; this opens the Evening Star phase, when Venus is at her apogee i.e. the furthest away from Earth during her cycle.
When she is retrograde, the cazimi is called Venus’ inferior or interior conjunction; this opens the Morning Star phase, when Venus is at her perigee, i.e. at her closest point to the Earth.
Over a period of eight years, these cazimis mark five points within the Zodiac Wheel. These five points trace a near perfect five-pointed star.
The Venus Star Pentagram is the five-pointed star traced by Venus’ cycle over a period of eight years, each point of which is a Venus cazimi.
The Venus Star in the Birth Chart
Your Venus Star (or your Venus Star Point®) is the Venus cazimi that took place prior to your birth. The particularities of your Venus Star - whether it was a morning or evening star, what sign it took place in, what planets joined the party, what part of your birth chart this all lands in, ect. - describe the unique set of Venusian gifts you were born on this earth to carry forward.
The sign of your Venus Star reveals the Venusian qualities that were being amplified, during your era of birth, within the collective conscious and unconscious, the natural and the more-than-human realms. The sign’s archetypal essence was therefore active and imbued you at the time of gestation, ensoulment and birthing with its celestial essence.
For example, someone with a Cancer Venus Star is deeply encoded with the impulse to nurture and, care-give. Enacting the role of the Divine Mother could be a pathway of true soul integration and alignment for this person. The fine tuning of the reading occurs when we look at all the other elements of the Venus Star as stated above.
As Your Venus Star is not only a point in your birth chart but also relates to an entire generation of people born under the same Star, this reflects something you are meant to contribute to the world which participates in spreading the Venusian evolutionary path. In other words, knowing and working with your Venus Star opens your pathway to being an agent of change for the Good of All within the culture participating in spreading the Medicine of Love, Kindness, Harmony and Beauty.