Venus, once Earth's Twin
Ancient Mythology
Morning, or Evening, Star
Morning, or Evening, Star
In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. She was the Roman counterpart to the Greek Aphrodite. Venus appeared bright and pretty in a male dominated society.
Aphrodite was born of the foam from the sea after Saturn (Greek Cronus) castrated his father Uranus and his blood fell to the sea. This story appears to be more a popular theory as shown by the countless artworks depicting Venus rising from the sea in a clam.
As Inanna, Venus was an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, war, justice, and political power. Inanna was known as the "Queen of Heaven" and associated with the planet Venus. Her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Inanna appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity.
Myths show our intuitive (our unlearned knowledge)
Inanna/Ishtar's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from Kur, the ancient Sumerian Underworld, a myth in which she attempts to conquer the domain of her older sister, the queen of the Underworld, but is instead deemed guilty of hubris by the seven judges of the Underworld and struck dead.
Only after all sexual intercourse between animals and humans stopped did the gods get her released.
Morning, or Evening, Star
Morning, or Evening, Star
Morning, or Evening, Star
From Earth Venus is always within 47 degrees of the Sun. Venus appears alive, sparkling and dancing throughout early evening and morning skies.
Venus is often the first “star” to be seen in the sky after the Sun sets, or the last to disappear before the Sun rises.
This rise and fall of Venus as a morning star takes 263 days. For the next 50 days, Venus disappears and cannot be seen in the sky at all.
Then, Venus reappears in the evening sky, where it remains for another 263-day phase before disappearing below the horizon for 8 days. At the end of these 8 days, Venus reappears as a morning star, and the cycle begins again.
The entire cycle—263 as a morning star, 50 days absent, 263 days as an evening star, and finally, 8 days absent—takes 584 days, an interval also known as the synodic period of Venus.
The motions of Venus relative to our sun repeat almost exactly every 8 years. Eight years has been a useful span of time for sky-watchers, who relied heavily on natural cycles to mark time. Like the sun, the position of Venus against the horizon appears to shift with the seasons. Exactly how far Venus shifts each year depends on where it is in its 8-year cycle, but the extreme points in the back-and-forth oscillation are known as the northern extreme and the southern extreme of Venus. An observer will see Venus rise at each of these extreme points once every 8 years.
Many Mysteries
Morning, or Evening, Star
Many Mysteries
Most planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in the direction of the Sun's rotation, which is counterclockwise. In 1963 we learned our Goddess of Love and War rotates clockwise.
Why doesn't Venus?
Why does Venus rotate
slower than any other planet?
Venus rotates so slowly that it takes 243 Earth days to rotate once around its axis. This compares to Earth’s 24 hour and all the outer planets faster rotation. Mercury is the only other planet that rotates slower than Earth and it only takes 58 days. One possible cause for the slow spin is friction caused by Venus' thick atmosphere and high-speed winds. The motion of the atmosphere on Earth, for example, has been observed to affect our planet's rotation rate, albeit to a much smaller degree.
Why does Venus's atmosphere rotate so fast?
In the 1960's it was discovered that despite a very slow rotation, Venus’ atmosphere rotates westward 60 times faster than its planetary rotation.
The atmosphere’s super-rotation increases with altitude. It takes only four Earth days to circulate around the entire planet towards the top of the cloud cover. The fast-moving atmosphere transports heat from the planet’s day-side to night-side, reducing the temperature differences between the two hemispheres.
In September 2020 signs of life have been discovered in Venus's atmosphere!.
In February 2020, the DeVinci+ mission to Venus become one of the four prospects for missions being considered by NASA in 2026.
June 2021: NASA Announces Return to Venus by 2030
The projects, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will explore the planet’s past and Earth’s similarities with its sister planet
.Both are expected to launch by 2028 to 2030.
Discovering Earth's Twin
Will Earth become like the Venus we know today?
Some 700 million years ago, Venus was an entirely different planet than what it is now. Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years,. Venus’s similar but smaller size, orbital radius, and cloud covering has allowed many to believe that Venus contained a lush, Earth-like environment. Ancient oceans have been discovered.
Venus’s rare transits between the sun and Earth are rare. In 1761 such a transit provided the first evidence that Venus had an atmosphere. The 19th-century observations led many observers to state that Venus had a period of rotation of roughly 24 hours (instead of the actual 243 DAY rotation). After the Moon, Venus was the second object in the Solar System to be explored by radar from the Earth. The first studies were carried out in 1961. In 1963 we learned that the rotation of Venus was in the opposite direction to that in which it orbits the Sun.
The refinement of imaging techniques between 1970 and 1985. increased our knowledge as did the numerous unmanned missions to Venus. Ten Soviet probes have achieved a soft landing on the surface, with up to 110 minutes of communication from the surface, all without return. Launch windows occur every 19 months. In 1962 probes established that Venus has practically no intrinsic magnetic field and measured the strength of Venus's magnetic field. In 1974, Mariner 10 took ultraviolet photographs of the clouds, revealing the extraordinarily high wind speeds in the Venusian atmosphere. The Soviet space probes discovered that the atmosphere of Venus was 95% carbon dioxide (CO2) and that surface pressures were far greater than expected (75 to 100 times our atmosphere). The clouds of Venus are formed in three distinct layers.
In 1982 Soviet spacecraft captured the first color image of Venus's surface. The probe operated for a record 127 minutes on the planet's hostile surface. More turbulence and convection activity than expected was detected in 1985,
Since then, evidence of past oceans, the discovery of a huge double atmospheric vortex at the south pole, and confirming that lightning on Venus is more common on Venus than it is on Earth all took place.
2004 Venus Transit of Sun
Venus Turned Into A Hellish World. Will Our Earth?
Because Venus is made of pretty much the same stuff as our Earth, and has roughly the same size and mass, scientists are pretty sure that, back in the early days of the solar system, Venus was kind of nice. It probably supported liquid water oceans on the surface and white fluffy clouds dotting a blue sky. Quite lovely.
Eventually, Venus became a runaway greenhouse with all the water dumped into the atmosphere trapping as much heat as possible, with the surface temperatures continuing to skyrocket. As that atmosphere grew thicker, the conditions on the surface grew even more hellish. The atmosphere might even have had enough drag to literally slow down the rotation of Venus itself, giving it its present-day sluggish rates.
A Goddess of Love in a male dominated society?
Ishtar was the goddess of love and pleasure and associated with Venus. Her name was often on the clay tablets of the day and must have been a favorite object of worship. Ishtar was the daughter of Sin, the moon goddess. Ishtar was the sister of the Sun and frequently associated with Nebu, Mercury. Sometimes Nebu was called the child of Ishtar.
As the morning star she was associated with War. As the evening star she was associated with Love. By 540-512 BCE they knew the planet Venus as both the morning, Lucifer, and evening star, Heferus.
Venus appeared to be the largest of all the stars excluding the Sun and Moon. Some cultures called her the star that announces the Sun. She was beautiful and bright, much brighter. and more beautiful than she looks from Earth today because of our city lights.
In Christian times Lucifer, the light bearer, came to be regarded as Satan. In classical time, Lucifer had almost no legend, yet in poetry he was often herald of the dawn.
Transforming the Goddess of Pleasure and Love into the masculine Lucifer, devil, seems reflective of the male dominated society. The Age of Aquarius is not associated with either male or female dominance.
Venusian Energy
The pentagram of Venus
The pentagram of Venus is the path that Venus makes as observed from Earth. Earth orbits 8 times for every 13 orbits of Venus which shifts 144° upon sequential inferior conjunctions. This created the five-star pattern.
The pentagram has had a varied existence, and its simplicity and elegance is reflected by the fact it can be found as a symbol of importance around the world. The meaning behind it is as varied and variable as those who define it.
The pentagram has a special number hidden inside called the Golden Ratio. The golden ratio appears in some patterns in nature, including the spiral arrangement of leaves and other plant parts. Mathematicians since Euclid have studied the properties of the golden ratio. Some twentieth-century artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio, believing this to be aesthetically pleasing.
Venus’s pattern can lead us to more stability in a world disrupted by chaos. A theorem outlined by Kolmogorov (1954) gives conditions under which chaos is restricted.
Venus energy in patriarchal societies
Venus is generally represented as feminine energy. Patriarchal societies are male dominated and generally favor masculine energy for men only. The interplay of male and female energy could be a whole website itself.
The beginning of spring and fertility
Venus' month was April, the beginning of spring and fertility, when most of her festivals were held. In Indian Vedic astrology Venus means "clear, pure" or "brightness, clearness". In Sanskrit Venus is considered to affect wealth, pleasure, and reproduction.
Taurus and Libra
Venus energy describes two inner areas. In astrology as Taurus it’s energy shows values and provides direction in finances and management of material assets. In Libra it connects close personal relationships. See more below.
Descent and Return
In Inanna's descent to the Underworld, unlike any other deity, she was able to descend into the netherworld and return to the heavens. In many ways this ability to go to the depths and return is part of the heart to understanding the world today.
Venus Revealed by David Harry Grinspoon
Quoting Dorion Sagan in his review of this highly readable and informative 1997 book, "He peers with good-natured wit through her thick clouds, unveils her musical intercourse with human history and leaves the reader not only educated and entertained, but familiar and indeed, almost intimate, with this formerly mysterious and all-too-elusive inner planet." You might want to read it!
I will be referring to it again in Level 2 as well as in the upcoming MyAstronomia.com.
We judge - often based on lack of knowledge.
The pressure on Venus is 1334 PSI or 92 times the pressure at sea level on Earth, which is 14.5 PSI. The deepest point in Earth's ocean is in the Mariana Trench, which is about 11 km deep, in the Pacific. The water pressure at the bottom of the trench is a crushing eight tons per square inch, around a thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level, yet scientists have found life at this depth. pressure, and extreme temperature!
There was a time when scientific knowledge said such life was not possible.
Venus Glyph
The cross below the circle means the physical supporting the spirit. Divinity, harmony, and unity represented by the circle dominates above the material world.
This energy makes Venus an object of beauty and admiration. The cross below the circle gives her a lower grip on existence. Her power is passive and remains in attracting, conducting, persuading, and seducing.
This glyph of Venus can also be seen as a hand mirror. With Venus on one side of Earth and Mars on the other, we image them as opposites. While Mars may fight, Venus attracts. More people can be won by gentle persuasion and appreciation than by hostile confrontation.
Dual Zodiacal Signs for Venus
Taurus individuals are famous for their stubbornness, but there's more to them than that . Ruled by the planet Venus, they share her traits of beauty, artistry, hedonism and a love of luxury and comfort
It is the second astrological sign in the present zodiac. It spans from 30° to 60° of the zodiac. Duration (tropical, western) April 19 – May 20 (2020)
Zodiac element Fixed Earth
The neck, ears, mouth, teeth, and vocal cords fall under Taurus.
Libra is the sign "in which the seasons are balanced". Both the hours of the day and the hours of the night match each other.
Libra (♎︎) is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac. It spans 180°–210° celestial longitude. The Sun transits this sign on average between September 23 (September equinox) and October 22.
Zodiacal Element: Active Air
The scales connect to the kidneys, and not unsurprisingly, the equilibrium. Kidneys filter waste from the body, and that is the role of many Libras — eliminating negative energy to promote beauty and positivity.