All Summer long the giant planets Saturn and Jupiter stood as guardians on either side of the thickest region of Milky Way stars, where we find the Galactic Center. This week, Jupiter offers his hand to the planet Venus, goddess of love and beauty, so they can make their way through this very region of stars. So what’s the story?
The Galactic Center is in the region of sky where the Sagittarius arrow seems to point, which is right where we’ll see Jupiter and Venus this weekend. But you don’t have to wait until this weekend to look, because these two will be moving closer to one another, and to the center, all week long ~ just look southwest about an hour after sunset. You’ll also notice that Saturn is still on the scene, above and left of Jupiter and Venus.
In ancient understanding, Saturn had a kaleidoscopic memory of all things that had happened in the cosmic history, and he bore karmic necessity our way.
Jupiter, on the other hand, was associated with cosmic thought, and the creative thinking of the present moment. Even if a person experienced clairvoyant visions, it would mean nothing if they hadn’t developed the capacity for Jupiter’s clear, thoughtful intelligence.
Then there’s Venus, who radiates so brilliantly. This radiance lent itself to the idea that Venus knows the secrets deep within the human heart, and it’s this deep innermost being that she reflects so beautifully through the cosmos.
This weekend we can imagine that Jupiter, with his divine intelligence, is offering his hand to Venus that she may bear all our deepest heartfelt wishes across the great Galactic Center, to meet Saturn, like in Rilke’s fabulous poem from his Book of Hours:
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
Then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.