Feb 22
Saudade
…On Venus in Aries and the Western sky
In 2011, back when Neptune was splashing against the shores of both Aquarius and Pisces, a new orchid was discovered (or rediscovered?) on the Azores. It’s called the Hochstetter’s Butterfly Orchid. And so, up to that point, this unassuming plant existed without the classifications or knowledge of human beings; it longed only for its pollinators, like the bizarre hawk-moth. It’s silly to assume a plant’s longing, if ihere exists such a desire at all, but for the poetic imagination, it’s a given.
There’s this enigmatic word used in the Azzores, which is ‘saudade.’ It’s one of those untranslatable words no other language can capture. From mainland Portugal to Brazil and these islands in between, it retains its mysterious power. Without assuming I know exactly what it means, being I don’t know Portuguese, from what I gather, it’s a reaching for the ineffable feeling we get around our longing. It can be a longing for what we’ve left, lost, or have yet to love. It’s complex and seemingly not tethered to linear time at all. It’s captured well in their music called Fado. Mostly in the minor key, the genre seems linked deeply to Orpheus’ lamenting songs just after his loss, and right before the loss of his head as welll.
So how does a rare orchid and saudade relate to what’s happening in the sky? Well, if you’ve seen them in the West, you know of the show they are putting on. Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon (Chiron as well, if we could see him). Venus also just crashed through the Aries Point, bringing what seems to be the next stage of this global conflict and personally, some extra force to push us through with whatever it is we have been up to. Even though Aries isn’t Venus’ favorite vacation spot, lots can be accomplished here. Add the Moon, open up a gate, and we can go deeper into saudade.
When Venus is an evening star, she is considered Queen of Heaven. It’s hard to argue with her august beauty when we lay eyes on her there. But internally, there is a subtle wisdom that forms, and it relates to longing. As an evening star, there is almost a currency we can gather from whatever it is we are longing, whereas in the morning sky, we want it yesterday. The patience meter is low when she rises before the Sun; it’s much higher when she lingers behind it as an evening star. Becoming intimate with these nuanced differences is crucial to not only understanding the Venus cycle, but with the cycle of our own hearts as well.
The proximity to Jupiter is something to track for the next week or so. Their exact conjunction will occur on the 2nd of March @ 11º Aries. Watching the two come closer and closer may correlate with a deepening acceptance about one or two of our heart strings. It may enlarge the font so we can’t help but read the message, but the point is to actually get it. Saudade, longing, heartache, you name the elusive feeling along the same line of logic, it not only comes for all of us, it is a part of us. Like a moth to its sacred orchid, we are drawn to the nectar at the other end of this sensation. Insects pollinate the vegetal world, we pollinate the human world with our language and touch. May we all deepen in the presence of this fireside chat in the West.
*If you’d like to learn more about Venus, I have this new package of 6 classes you can learn from HERE:
Eudaimonia,
Adam
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