Episode 247 features an interview with astrologer Arielle Guttman about her work on using myth as an interpretive device in astrology, as well as the importance of the synodic cycle of Venus, providing insight into the upcoming Venus retrograde.
Arielle is the author of the books Mythic Astrology and Mythic Astrology Applied, as well as Venus Star Rising: A New Cosmology for the Twenty-First Century.
During the course of the interview we talk about Arielle’s background in astrology and how she got into it, her work with Jim Lewis on relocational astrology, the use of myth as a tool to help explicate archetypes in astrology, and her work on what she calls the Venus Star Point.
The Venus Star Point in natal astrology is the conjunction between Venus and the Sun that occurred prior to your birth, which creates a sensitive degree in your chart, and also locks in a resonance between that phase of Venus whenever it reoccurs later in your life.
Here is a handout from Arielle’s website for calculating your Venus Star Point:
Find your Venus Star Point PDF Handout
You can find out more information about Arielle’s work through her website:
Arielle came out to Denver to give a talk for our local astrology group during the second week of March, but this was just as the COVID-19 pandemic was breaking out in the US, so we switched her talk to a webinar on Saturday, March 14, and then recorded this podcast the following day.
If you enjoy this episode of the podcast, the webinar the previous day went into a bit more detail about her work on Venus, and the recording is available as an episode of the Casual Astrology Podcast for patrons.
This episode was co-hosted by astrologers Chris Brennan and Leisa Schaim.
This episode is available in both audio and video versions below.
Timestamps
Here are some timestamps for topics covered at different points in the episode:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:11 Arielle’s books and background
00:10:46 Astrocartography
00:20:12 Asteroids
00:24:38 How myth is used in astrology
00:33:38 Using mythic astrology with clients
00:35:30 Myth of Ceres and Persephone
00:40:13 Stories of planets that aren’t prominent
00:41:56 Transit of Pluto to Ceres
00:43:13 Hermes story
00:45:47 How mythic stories help clients
00:48:55 Archetypes
00:52:19 Mythology of Venus
00:55:00 The two sides of Venus
00:58:00 Two Venus statues
00:58:56 Complexity of Venus in astrology
01:02:20 2012 Mayan astrology Venus transit
01:04:15 Venus as evening and morning star
01:07:38 Importance of Venus kazimi
01:10:06 Mayan fascination with Venus
01:12:30 Masons and Venus pentagram
01:13:28 Rosary beads and Venus cycles
01:14:26 Meanings of Venus morning and evening star phases
01:21:09 Venus pentagram
01:23:53 Relationships on the Venus star
01:26:52 Venus retrograde pattern
01:30:54 Venus passing across the face of the Sun
01:31:35 The Venus Sun conjunction prior to your birth
01:32:00 Additional point for evening star Venus people
01:33:27 Venus Star Point 2020 in Gemini
01:34:40 Impact of Venus Star Point on your chart
01:35:33 People with same Venus Star Point as yours
01:40:25 When a person outshines their partner
01:42:30 Venus Star Point at the mundane level
01:52:09 What Venus retrograde means
01:58:50 Arielle’s Venus Star Rising book
01:59:10 How to find your Venus Star Point link
02:04:30 Arielle’s website and how to get a signed book
02:06:56 Her Mythic Astrology books
02:07:51 Closing remarks
Watch the Video Version of This Episode
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Transcript
A full transcript of this episode is available: Episode 247 transcript
Listen to the Audio Version of This Episode
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:09:20 — 88.9MB)
I really resonated with Ariel’s frustration at the shallowness of Venus’ (and Mercury and Mars) interpretations. So I was so glad to read Liz Greene’s intro to _The Inner Planets_: “The moment we express the inner planets, we assert our separateness. It is not surprising that some astrologers consider them ‘unimportant’, for they are so important that they pose a permanent threat to our fantasies of fusion. It is not possible to be loved unconditionally by everybody if one is oneself…” And long I waited for _Venus Star Rising_. 🙂
Thank you for this wide-ranging interview, and especially for the review of Ms. Guttman’s Venus Starpoint system. The discussion and the various diagrams were very helpful in explicating the method. In our rush to work with the mysterious trans-Neptunians, the asteroids, and so forth, modern astrologers frequently neglect in-depth explorations of the traditional planets (as Chris and others have pointed out). This system provides us with an intriguing approach to Venus, and invites us to reconsider its symbolism and importance in our charts.
In fact, I’d like to suggest that in terms of the 250-year cycle that was discussed in the episode, it’s not that Venus represents rebirth and Pluto represents the passing away of the old pattern. Looking at the symbolism from a more traditional perspective — since the ancients didn’t know about Pluto — Venus in its dual roles as morning and evening star represents both phases of the return. After all, Venus as the morning star represents a warrior, a battle goddess, one who is often referred to as wading in the blood of the slain. In ancient times, these were fearsome goddesses in many cultures, an image retained by the Indian deity Kali but was well represented elsewhere, too. It’s fascinating how warrior goddesses have been “domesticated” in the West to the extent that we can only see Venus as representing partnership, love, sex, life renewing itself, etc. — but not the decay that always precedes renewal. Yet, they’re parts of the same cycle. We may want to consider what this might say about how our culture tends to deny a holistic view of the goddess, and distorts our perspective on the feminine in general.
In re the interesting example of a daughter talking to her mother about meeting a young man, and the mother responding with, “What does he do?”: this is utterly ancient and cross-cultural, rather than particularly American. Prior to the rise of the notion of romantic love, marriage was all about money, property, making socially advantageous connections, and so on. Consider traditions around dowry, bride price, etc. In many places, this connection continues to be well maintained. Far from being an American characteristic, the focus on how a prospective spouse will either provide for or add to a person’s material life situation — allowing for concerns as to whether they are an ethical, kind person and so on — is/was ancient and pervasive worldwide.
Thanks for another terrific and thought-provoking episode.
Fascinating! Thank you for having Arielle on the show!
wow! Just listened to the venus star point pod cast. had never heard of it before. I am amazed, o.k. so my VSP is 8 Vir. my asc. is 6 vir. my husbands VSP is 5 vir. hmmm interesting, ahh gets better, we met in 1994, VSP was 26 cap. my venus is 23 cap. we were friends for 12 years first actual date Friday 13th 2006. VSP that day exact my natal venus! We married that Halloween. 3 days after VSP in my profected house for that year.
Loved this podcast, all new to me. Thank you so much for providing this great interview
Thank you – fascinating. Once again, the long term cycles are key. And, another book to relish.
I love it. I loved her. Every time I thought I’d confirmed my own view on these topics… I also learned another perspective. Thank you for introducing me to this fab astrologer. The Astrology Podcast is brilliant!
A massive show with a true philosopher. Thank you Arielle. I’m busy reading and relating this slowly to support my client work. It’s very powerful for psychosynthesis, relating to establishing purpose, meaning, and value for client unfoldment. Thank you all