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 Ajmak day. In the top left hand portion of the page, you can see the glyphs Q’anil, Tijax, Q’anil and then Ajmak. 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 Ajmak day in the Borgia Codex “The Venus Lord is illustrated with a bird on one ear flare, and a snake on the other (or issuing from his mouth). This is the deity on the Venus pages that can most readily be identified as Kukulkan. The victim is illustrated as a turtle headed deity with a jade necklace. The victim’s name glyph includes the K’ank’in turtle head. Thompson equated this deity with “the turtle god of rain”. Ethnographers report that turtles are protected in the Yucatan to avoid drought.  In the Borgia, the Venus Lord, identified by Seler as Quetzalcoatl, spears a goddess, who Kelley identifies as Chalchihuitlicue, Jade Skirt, a water goddess. Drought is implied. ” Drought, both today and to the ancient Maya, is of course a serious occurrence. Maya sites such as Tikal had no natural water sources, they were supplied from reservoirs which would catch rainwater during rainy season.

In the page pertaining to this Venus event, the top panel (above) shows the Corn god standing before the Death god. Venus will remain as a morning planet until 7 E’ on 12th September. Could this signify a dry summer for the northern hemisphere, or the possibility of a crop failure? Perhaps this would have been used as an almanac to understand when to plant more corn to mitigate for a possible lower yield?

However, there is a more positive way in which we can look at it. 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 No’j (21st March 2022). From our own point of view we can also see this as our own return to brightness, a time to rise and shine again.