Psyche & Eros’ Love Bed
As we move toward our Full Moon in Leo on February 14th at 3:53pm pst, I am creating a virtual Altar to honor the sacred wild force of the genius of LOVE in humans!
Genius is complex. And the genius of Love is the most complex force in nature. Love more than any other force draws forth some of the darkest most painful challenges we experience over our lifetime, along with the most ecstatic. And while the culture will be celebrating one type of Love on Valentine’s Day with the outer Lover, the Mysteries of Love reveal to us that without turning inward, our outer Love is doomed to fail.
So let us turn our eyes to our astrology charts to discover where this Mystery of Love abides within us.
Leo and the Sun are the rulers of the 5th House of Romance, Creative Expression and PLAY! In the body, Leo rules the Heart.
While the 7th is the house of committed relationships, such as marriage, partnerships, contracts… the 5th is the house of the initiating force of Love that has us lovesick and behaving like Juliet to her Romeo. There is nothing that stirs creativity into life like this force of Love. There have been more songs written to love and its loss than any other theme. More poetry. Romance novels. Paintings of the beloved. This is where the fiery heart of our Daimon, our creative Muse, is revealed.
To honor and awaken the sacred wild force of Leo’s fiery heart within you… write a love poem! Paint! Dance to love music. Even if you are not in a outer relationship, and in fact, even if you are, write a poem to your Inner Beloved and watch the fires of the outer ignite.
Venus, the Goddess of Love, rules the 2nd and 7th Houses in our astrology chart.
SHE is such a powerful force in nature that even the Greeks who were a patriarchal culture (though better than most) gave Her two houses to reign over in Astrology. In nature, Venus is the force of Attraction. Bees to Honey! haha! Oh, and Bees and Honey are Venus’ creatures and beautifying ointment. Have you ever put honey on your face and allowed it to sit? Best. Mask. EVER! And, when you do it, you will be honoring the Goddess of Love! She is the force of beautification, yes, nature’s drive for Beauty.
The 2nd House Mysteries rule over our tangible self love which shows up through what we value and possess.
With Taurus as a co-ruler of the 2nd House, Venus wants us to value the BEAUTY of our bodies and its senses, which is why it is so damn shadowy! Honoring our Body is a direct act of honoring Venus’ Temple of Love. Dis your body and SHE will fleeeeeee!
Nothing to Venus is indulgent or too much as it comes to beautifying oneself. But it has to be your way. Look to your 2nd House to see what way that is for you. For some it is getting their hair, brows and nails done. For others it is having an herbal bath. For some it is buying and wearing a sexy sensual outfit. For others it is pure delight in uninhibited sex with oneself or another which brings the glow of LOVE to your whole body. For others it is standing before the mirror and saying, “I love me! I AM Beauty!” and radiating that self claiming beauty throughout the day!
Alllllllll of these ways are adored by Venus and will attract Her force of Love to you!
The 2nd House is also the house of finances and as we can see, Venus does need wealth to pay for her beautifying rites!
The key is remembering that our wealth is tied up in how we feeeeeeeel about ourselves. How we value ourselves! And honestly? How we value ourselves will show up in how we value ourselves around making money. This is also the House where the law of attraction requires us to work to embody what we desire, which Venus adores because this house is also ruled by Taurus, a hard-working Earth sign. Sensate function. The pleasure we experience in the physical realm achieving our desires. It is here we seek the Heart of Matter!
For the 2nd House aspect of your Venus-Taurus self, do something exquisite for your luscious soft animal body. A honey mask. Luxuriate in an herbal bath. Dress up in something sensual. Place money you’ve earned from something you love doing on your Love Altar. PLAY! All the while, know you are attracting this force of Nature to youuuuu rather than repelling it through not valuing yourself which is what many of us are caught in without even realizing it!
7th House is also ruled by Venus and Libra. It is the House of Relationships. Now this is where Love gets very tricky. This is where the dance of Love is as much a dance with our shadows as it is with our Lover.
The Descendant and the 7th House reveals the Self through the mirror of Other. There is no more difficult self transformational path than the journey of intimate relationship, whether with a lover, a deep close friend or even a business partner. This is why our culture is fraught with divorce and hatred toward the One who was once the lover like no other, or the business partner we believed in who betrayed us. This house also rules Open Enemies.
We are not taught the complex ways of the love psyche and thus our culture is desperately struggling in its attempt to realize Love in their lives.
Venus pulls us into relationships through the force of attraction. Little do we realize that the unconscious is involved and thus we are as attracted to our shadows and wounds triggered by our Lover as we are to our bright shadow, our dormant potentials our Lover holds for us.
Once involved, we become committed and ‘stuck’ in the relationship. Our Lover begins to change shape. If we are wise, we realize this is the time to face our shadows and wounds and work towards realizing and healing them. Or that it is now time to integrate the strengths of our bright shadow our lover embodies.
Eventually we awaken to the realization that it is not our Lover’s job to make us whole, it is ours. And when we bring home our projections, work on our shadows, develop our strengths, the fires of LOVE are reignited. When we don’t, the relationship begins to die. Or we may chose to end it. You may realize that what you were attracted to were patterns of your projected father who emotionally abused you. Finally you are able to see this, heal the wound, learn to draw your boundaries, and let him go.
Love is an Art, and the embers of that hearth will grow cold if we do not continuously tend those fires in ourselves.
It is a terrible travesty that people have twisted Love into the tales they tell, leaving everyone yearning for something they will never have… the perfect One who will fulfill our happiness and make us whole. Who would have thought that the most important place to cultivate the Art of Love is within ourselves, to ourselves, before and while in relationship with our Lover like no Other .
So this day of the Moon’s bright luminance in the fires of the Heart of Leo… LOOK to where Love is seeking you in your chart! Where is Leo? Who is in your 5th House of Romance and Creativity? What sign is your Venus in? What House? Then look to the 2nd House. What sign is in that house? What planets? Then look to your 7th House. What signs are in that House? What planets?
Create a living Altar to this Mystery of Love, understanding that this force must be honored, tended to and drawn forth to be realized in your Life. Your Body is Venus’ Temple of Love. Your Creativity, Her voice! The relationships that exist in your life now, are your LOVER like no Other! Tend to allllll these areas with deep heart and passion, and the force of LOVE will indeed be attracted to youuuuuuu like beeeeeees to your honnneeeeeey.
If you would like to learn more about your Astrology and join a group of Women who are choosing to embody the self realizations that come through this study to transform and empower their lives, join us! Read more about it here… She of the Sacred Wild Ways
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I love you, Honey!
Painting by Emily Balivet