The cycle of Venus was of great importance to the ancient Maya, and often used to time ritual activities including warfare and sacrifices. Venus was generally seen to have an unsettling influence, particularly during the time of the heliacal rising of Venus.
Today we enter that period of potential turbulence, the first rising of Venus as the Morning Star. This is said to be the time when the influence of Venus “spears” certain victims. Although these victims are often leaders, this turmoil is affecting all of us on the planet. That said, whoever holds “high position” would do well to avoid rushing into impassioned decisions or judgement during the first few days of the Morning Star.
Here is the particular page in the Dresden Codex which refers to the heliacal rise of Venus on an E’ day. In the top left hand portion of the page, you can see the glyphs K’at, Ix, K’at and then E’. These positions relate to superior conjunction, rise as evening “star”, inferior conjunction and then rise as morning”star”. According to biblioteca pleyades, the heliacal rise of Venus on an E’ day “The half animal/half human Venus Lord was identified by Thompson as a jaguar, and by Kelley as a frog. His name glyph suggests an insect or caterpillar, and in fact the features of the illustrated warrior may well be insectoid. The victim is God E, the Corn God. In the Borgia, a rat-faced deity spears a corn deity, and worms eat corn cobs. The Venus Lord likely represents pests that attack the corn crop.” Could this relate to the locust swarm which has been present in Africa and Asia? Is there a possibility that this will be replicated in Central America too, or the possibility of some other kind of pest in the corn?
However, there is a more positive way in which we can look at it, which I highlighted here in a video about Venus. In order to do this, we have to jump cultures a little and refer to the story of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was an Aztec deity, the Maya equivalent would be Kulkulkan in the post-classic Maya civilisation, Q’ukumatz is another variant.
Quetzalcoatl arrived as a teacher of the people, a civilising influence that taught astronomy, mathematics and agriculture. As the world became a better place, his popularity and influence grew, which attracted the jealousy of his brother, Tezcatlipoca. It is said that Tezcatlipoca disguised himself as an old man and gave Quetzalcoatl pulque, an alcoholic drink made from maguey. He became intoxicated and ended up “cavorting” with a celibate priestess (who may also have been his sister). Shamed, he then either sets himself on fire and rose into the sky to become the morning star, or sailed to the east on a boat of snakes, depending on which version we hear.
It is this aspect which can be seen as being particularly interesting. The rise and fall of Quetzalcoatl mirror the the “rise and fall” of Venus as the morning star. Today, Venus will return as the morning star, and it will get higher and brighter in the sky for the next 60 days, reaching its greatest western elongation (height above the Eastern horizon) around the day 1 E’ (13th August 2020). From our own point of view we can also see this as our own return to brightness, a time to rise and shine again.
