Venus transit of June 6th 2012

Introduction

June 6th 2012 Venus will transit across  the Sun. This is a relatively rare astronomical phenomena. This event is comparable to what happens when the Moon covers the Sun and creates an eclipse. However, as the distance from Venus to the earth is much greater during this transit only a very small part of the Sun will be covered by Venus. A Venus-Sun transit takes place in pairs with 8 years between. The transit of June 6th is the second of a pair, the first took place on June 8th 2004. The next pair of transits will take place on December 11th 2117 and December 8th 2125. The last pair of transits occurred on December 9th 1874 and December 6th 1882.

 

Astronomical background

The transit of Venus in front of the Sun is a kind of eclipse. It is caused by the fact that Earth, Venus and Sun are in line. As Venus and Earth make a different orbit around the Sun the plane of the orbits differ. Venus has its own plane making an angle with the ecliptic. The intersection between the plane of Venus around the Sun and the ecliptic is called the heliocentric node axis. Currently the heliocentric nodes of Venus are on Gemini 16:40 and Sagittarius 16:40. To cause a transit of Venus over the surface of the Sun, requires that it takes place close to the position of the heliocentric nodes of Venus and that is the case on June 6th when Venus and Sun make a conjunction on 15:44 Gemini. The heliocentric node axis of Venus moves slowly through the ecliptic as illustrated in the table below.

Date                                    Degree of conjunction of Sun and Venus

Dec 9th 1874                        16:59 Sagittarius

Dec 6th 1882                        14:30 Sagittarius

June 8th 2004            17:53 Gemini

June 6th 2012                        15:45 Gemini

Dec 11th 2117                        18:59 Sagittarius

Dec 8th 2125                        16:30 Sagittarius

 

Here we see something comparable to the eclipses of the Sun by the Moon. Solar eclipses are categorized in families the so called Saros series, moving slowly through the ecliptic. There a next eclipse in a series will take place 19 years later. Where Sun and Venus are concerned the period is 8 years, however in most cases there is no transit from Venus in front of the Sun, but Venus will pass slowly next to the Sun. From the table above we can deduct that the period between 2 transits of Venus in front of the Sun  in the same sign will take 243 years. In this period the heliocentric node axis of Venus moves 2 degrees. This leads to the conclusion that it takes about 43.740 (360/2x 243) years for the heliocentric nodes for Venus to make a complete round through the ecliptic.

In comparison, the precession of the earth axis takes about 26.000 years.

 

Inner conjunctions of Venus and Sun occur frequently, in general 5 times in 8 years, but a transit of Venus across the Sun is rather rare. They occur twice every 120 years (see above). Since the begin of this millennium we had the following inner conjunctions of Venus with the Sun:

March 20 2001 10th degree Aries

October 31 2002 8th degree Scorpio

June 8 2004 18th degree Gemini

January 13 2006 24th degree Capricorn

August 18 2007 25th degree Leo

March 27 2009 8th degree Aries

October 29 2010 6th degree Scorpio

June 6 2012 16th degree Gemini

 

A series of inner conjunctions consists of 5 conjunctions and takes 8 years (to be exact 2920 (5 x 584) days). As these inner conjunctions take place at nearly the same degree of the ecliptic (difference only 2 degrees in 8 years) it appears that these inner conjunctions make a five point star, with in current times the points in Aries, Gemini, Leo, Scorpio and Capricorn.

 

This century there will be the following inner conjunctions in Gemini and Sagittarius:

 

June 3 2020 14th degree Gemini

June 1 2028 12th degree Gemini

May 30 2036 10th degree Gemini

May 27 2044 8th degree Gemini

May 25 2052 5th degree Gemini

May 23 2060 3rd degree Gemini

May 20 2068 1st degree Gemini

This series started on June 19th 1964 on the 29th degree of Gemini and counts in total 16 inner conjunctions.

 

The first inner conjunction for the next series in the sign Sagittarius takes place on December 20th 2085, about in conjunction with the galactic center. The horoscope of the winter solstice that year (next day) shows a remarkable picture. All planets are aligned in a special figure (a kite) in the fire signs Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. Only the Moon and Uranus are in Aquarius in conjunction and opposite with Jupiter and Neptune in Leo.

 

Venus and the Maya

In the Maya mythology Venus was not dedicated to erotic love but to bad omens as wars, disasters and dry  seasons. Especially the transit from Venus across the Sun to become a Morning star was considered a bad omen. At all inner conjunctions of Venus and the Sun Venus changes from Evening star to Morning star. The Maya dedicated the start of a calendar to astronomical calculations related to Venus, especially the moment of the transit across the Sun. To soothe the Gods they even sacrificed human lives to them. However Venus was not always related to bad news.

 

June 6th 2012

The transit of Venus across the Sun of June 6 2012 takes place on the 16th degree of Gemini.

Venus and Sun are then close to the heliocentric Northern node of Uranus. This means there will be a transfer of innovative energies. According to the astrological mandala of Dane Rudhyar the 16th degree of Gemini is archetypically represented by an activist expressing dramatically  in an emotional oration everything of importance for her. It indicates the need to ask attention for everything of importance bothering us. Shortly before June 24th, when  the 1st of seven squares between Uranus  and Pluto will take place, it might give us an indication for the upcoming energies we will have to deal with in the coming years. Let us try to focus these changes in a constructive manner to a harmonic society where people have respect for each other and for mother earth feeding us.