Venus and Jupiter Conjunct at Beehive Cluster: Healthy Boundaries for a Planet in Crisis

Week of August 16-24, 2014, all times PDT

Tomorrow (Sunday, August 17) features one of the big events of the year, Venus and Jupiter are conjunct within .21 degrees of each other in the closest planet-to-planet conjunction of 2014. This event is ALSO significant because their joining occurs at the Beehive Cluster of the Crab Constellation.

This aspect, which we experience all week, through to when the Moon is conjunct the Beehive Cluster on Sunday, August 24, carries a tremendous opportunity to transmute the shadow aspect of the Beehive Cluster. This shadow aspect operates from extreme, fear-based boundaries and thus causes harm outside of oneself.  Healing these old patterns means the development of healthy boundaries from a place of self-love, and connection to the Global Community, or “Hive.”

Morning Best Time to View the Conjunction
Sunday (tomorrow), Monday, and Tuesday mornings (August 17-19), rise early 1 to 1 ½ hours before sunrise (bring your binoculars!) to see Venus and Jupiter extremely close to one another near the Beehive Cluster. Monday morning Venus and Jupiter will be at their closest and Venus will be exactly conjunct the Beehive Cluster-so that’s really the high point!

So how does this impact us? Venus and Jupiter are in the sign of Leo when they join forces. This is another reminder that the Zodiac Signs and Constellations are not the same thing.  So we are working with the magic of Venus, Jupiter, the sign of Leo, and the Beehive Cluster within the Crab Constellation all at once.

Venus is the Feminine Principle, which acts to “bring spirit into matter.” Jupiter puts us on our dharmic path, offering the fast track toward spiritual enlightenment. Leo is about radiant, radical self-love, or knowledge and embodied action from one’s Divine Nature.  The Beehive Cluster, also known as Praesepe, in its essence is about healthy boundaries, though it has also been associated with extreme levels of defensiveness.

Praesepe is an open star cluster in the Crab Constellation. It is located at about 7 degrees Leo along the zodiacal line or ecliptic. The literal meaning of the word Praesaepe in Latin is a crib, stall, fence, or enclosure.

The Many Meanings of the Beehive Cluster or Praesaepe

There’s a fine balance here between understanding the myths and symbols of past cultures yet recognizing that we get to co-create with Great Mystery what the current meaning is.

For example Praesaepe, like the Pleiades which is also a star cluster, ancient astrologers from some traditions would have associated it with “blindness, or mischief,” an ill omen. Yet few today associate the Pleiades with negative influences-quite the contrary.

The Beehive Cluster has varied projections from across cultures ranging in extremes from “Nurturing One” for the early Coptic Christians to “a pile of corpses,” from the Chinese tradition. The literal translation of the word Praesope in Latin means crib, manger, or some other object that creates a barrier or fence of support and protection.

The actual term “Beehive Cluster,” however, which is fairly recent, should also definitely be considered, because the time that a name is given to a celestial body indicates the emerging, new, evolved understanding of what that celestial body is truly about. Renaming is part of our evolutionary growth, part of us all collectively “dreaming the dream onward.”

The U.S., Israel, and the Beehive Cluster

Consider that the U.S. has the Beehive Cluster right at its North Node, which is to say that it is the destiny of our country to rise to the most elevated expression of these star’s mysteries. It was essential for us in the founding of our nation to declare strong boundaries against the British so as to establish our autonomy.

Yet the U.S., since gaining superpower status has demonstrated the shadow aspect of the Beehive Cluster-overt, preemptive aggression in the name of security. It is fascinating to note that George W. Bush’s Ascendant is located precisely at the Beehive Cluster, and that Jupiter was located a degree from the Cluster the day the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.

Consider too that Israel’s Moon is within a degree and a half of Praesepe, so that is the nation’s deepest lineage. It may well be the strength of that position of very strong boundaries enabled it to survive as a state in the early years. Yet it also represents its Achilles heel, the place it gets stuck and acts out of shadow, and habit, and unconscious addiction, especially when it feels threatened.

Like the U.S., however, Israel’s more progressive elements–Libra Ascendant to the U.S.’s Cancer Jupiter–suggests that it has served the growth of their national soul the most in those occasions where they have taken the higher road, and sought partnership and equality with other nations.

So I am going to look at these themes for a moment. With the heart of the Crab now in Leo, and looking at current events that are also taking place around us, consider that the Sun and Mercury have already passed through the Beehive Cluster over the past month and we have seen the very real, grim, literal “pile of corpses” from the siege on Gaza.

These conflicts demonstrate the most ancient instinct of brutal self-defense amplified by the use of modern weaponry. The rule now as then is to destroy the Other, and reduce their humanity.  At its least developed (or when most threatened), Leo is concerned only with self, is the ultimate narcissist, and operates from the principle of I (and my people) are God’s people and all others are inferior. The Beehive Cluster/Crab’s hyper focus on boundaries and self-protection can fuel and feed the need for aggression.

When distorted Leo is at the heart of the wounded Crab, it is all about self-protection, without a sense of true connection to anything outside of oneself. There is the strange illusion that it is possible to annihilate all those who are in one’s way, so as to finally be able to live in internal peace and harmony.

Note that Hitler’s MC-his “career” in the world was within 1 ½ degrees of Praesepe. What I see literally is a heavily armored tank, whose driver is a narcissistic individual operating from fear and a “might makes right” mentality.

That is the lowest expression. Now consider the interpretations of Praesopes as the crib, or the Manger, which could be seen as the place the Divine Child was born, for those coming from the Christian tradition. At the heart of the Cancer the Crab Constellation, once connected to the Mother mysteries.

Consider how a crib is a supportive, loving space that protects what is soft and undeveloped, yet is not overly rigid and is not concerned with attacking anyone “out there” because the protective Divine Light is understood to dwell within. What if we were to call on that expression at this time, empowered by Jupiter and Venus activating this portal in order to activate its very highest intent?

Finally, consider that Venus and Jupiter could be activating Praesepe into the highest expression of the Beehive, its most current name, and thus extremely potent. Considering healthy boundaries through the lens of the Beehive is a profoundly healing image for our time.

Bees do in fact defend themselves, so they uphold the essential principle in the Beehive Cluster of healthy boundaries and self-defense. They are also a highly cooperative tribe, whose lives revolve around gathering the nectar of life, the sweetness, and concentrating it into liquid gold.They are alchemists with wings.

Yet bees are by nature quite peaceful and will only attack when they feel their source of life and nurturance (their hive with its honey and babies and queen) is threatened, and are very strategic in their actions-guard bees targeting the bear’s tender nose, the careless beekeepers eyes, for example. In most cases, they will frighten off the marauder without needing to kill or use excess force.

The other matter to consider with bees is that their very action of gathering and concentrating the sweetness of life actually cause more life to grow-through their vital acts of pollination. They connect the threads, they, like all of us truly in our core nature, are here to foster more life, more vibrancy, around them as they go about their beautiful sacred work.

With Venus and Jupiter both uplifting the potential of the Beehive Cluster, let us call forth in our prayers and meditations a vision for a world where we individually and collectively develop the sophisticated, articulate language of boundaries established by the bees. And as we develop these boundaries as individuals and smaller groups, let us energize as well the recognition that at our current stage of evolution, the Global Family is our true tribe.

The River Is Flowing Very Fast-All Planets Direct and the Need for Inner Alignment

I want to also take note of the fact that now, with all five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) traveling direct, all seems to be moving forward, advancing in a very rapid manner.   In our externally-oriented modern culture we speak as though this is always a good thing, breathing a sigh of relief when Mercury, Venus, Mars station direct.

And it is true that this rapid, no-holds-barred direct movement is very positive when we are centered, tuned into our hearts and our deeper soul longings and act instinctively from there. We can accomplish a great deal in the “external world” with great ease when we are in alignment.

The trick is that when we are OUT of alignment and the flow is very rapid and accelerated, it can feel like being caught crosswise in a current-extremely turbulent, disconcerting; even violent.

Many of us have been heartened by the Hopi Elders prophecy which emerged in the early 2000’s-“We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For.” The lines that ring especially true to me right now are these:

This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.

It feels like that now. Essential to develop a deep level of trust, to remember to play, to celebrate, to have fun, to not take ourselves too seriously. This is also where Leo comes in, the sign, ultimately that we get to experience with the Jupiter Venus conjunction.

Healthy Leo demonstrates a beautiful expression of self-love and personal will that is actually expansive, positive, and rooted in unshakeable self-confidence that it is not “self-conscious” i.e. taking himself or herself too seriously so because they feel no need to prove himself or herself.