Mercury, Venus and Mars
MERCURY
“When the pickpocket meets the saint, he sees pockets.”
Orbital Period: 88 days
Synodic Period: Approximately 116 days (115.87754 days)
Archetypes: Teacher; Student. Writer; Reader. Storyteller.
Rules: Gemini and Virgo
Core Concept: The reception and transmission of data between a person and the surrounding social, physical, metaphysical, and psychic environments.
Developmental Focus: Evolving perception. Evolving thought. Evolving speech.
Positive Subjective Response: Curiosity, wonder, open-mindedness. Alertness. Comfortable self-expression; good listening.
Negative Subjective Response: Mental rigidity, intellectual defensiveness; compulsive speech, running around in circles.
Existential Emphasis Under Transits, Progressions, or Arcs: New information; omens and synchronicities; key conversations; speedy, chaotic developments; education in any sense; physical motion. Contact with young people or siblings.
Purifying the Three Poisons
Weak expressions of Mercury, Venus, and Mars correspond closely to the "three poisons" in Buddhism -- Ignorance, Attachment, and Anger. They all orbit close to the Sun, and thus can be seen as defenders of the ego’s self-centered view.
How can we work with these three "personal planets" in a way that converts them from obstacles to allies in the evolutionary journey? What does their position in the natal chart suggest about turning ignorance into understanding, attachment into transformative love, and anger into boundless courage? Learn how to work consciously with the energies of the personal planets Mercury, Venus and Mars.
VENUS
Orbital Period: 225 days
Synodic Period: Approximately 584 days (583.92166 days)
Pentagonal Cycle of Five Synodic Conjunctions: 7.997 years (Two days and eight hours short of exactly eight years.)
Rules: Taurus and Libra
Archetypes: Lover. Friend. Artist. Diplomat.
Core Concept: The establishment and maintenance of bridges of rapport with other beings. Securing the benefits of alliance, partnership, and mutual correction. Calming; recovery from over-stimulation. The aesthetic response.
Developmental Focus: Opening and enriching of the capacity to love; recovery of trust; spiritual maturation of intimate needs, skills and reflexes.
Positive Subjective Response: Warmth, openness; trust; sharing.
Negative Subjective Response: Neediness; seductiveness; obsession with drama.
Existential Emphasis Under Transits, Progressions, or Arcs: Encounters with significant others; timely, "fated" meetings; turbulence and endings in partnerships. Contact with art and beauty; creative outpourings. Contracts established.
Factoid: Three time Mars orbit = four times Venus’ orbit to within a tenth of one percent. (Resonance 4:3) Thus, every 6.4 years (2338 days) Mars and Venus return to the same positions relative to earth (heliocentric).
MARS
“Hunter or prey—which do you prefer?”
Orbital Period: 687 days
Synodic Period: Approximately 780 days (779.93651 days)
Rules: Aries and co-rules Scorpio (with Pluto)
Archetypes: Warrior. Protector.
Core Concept: Courage; assertiveness; protection of self and other. The defense of boundaries; the expansion of territory.
Developmental Focus: Appropriate assertiveness; the claiming of new territory; honorable defense of boundaries.
Positive Subjective Response: Courage; renewed confidence; vivid aliveness; pleasurable relationship with appetite and libido.
Negative Subjective Response: Anger; violent emotions; depression; frustration.
Existential Emphasis Under Transits, Progressions, or Arcs: Drive; making "a big push." Conflict; confrontation. Situations demanding assertiveness. Sexual release. Adventure; competition. "Clearing the air," encounters with rivals.
Factoid: Three times Mars orbit = four times Venus’ orbit to within a tenth of one percent. (Resonance 4:3) Thus, every 6.4 years (2338 days) Mars and Venus return to the same positions relative to earth (heliocentric).
Working Consciously with Mercury, Venus and Mars
In Buddhism, there are "three poisons." The root poison is Ignorance - and it is Mercury's job to dispel it. Ignorance spawns two more poisons. One is attachment and desire. Purifying that soul-disease is the result of achieving a highly evolved response to Venus. Anger and fear are the third poison, and getting past them brings us to the process of elevating our relationship with Mars.
As we enter into right relationship with these three planets, we become wiser, more loving, and more courageous. And, of course, when we go astray with them, we tie ourselves up in illusion and false belief, fall into foolish relationships that hurt us, and go nuclear on all the wrong targets.