13/08/2023
40 Days in the Wilderness
We are in the midst of the 40-day Venus retrograde process, where Venus appears to move backward in the sky, symbolizing a period of introspection and inner reevaluation. This celestial event mirrors the 40 days when Christ was tempted in the wilderness, the 40 days of rain during Noah's flood, and the 40 years of Israelites wandering in the wilderness. All these instances represent transformative journeys involving trials and tests resulting in a purification process.
While modern astrologers often associate Venus with relationships, love, and beauty, its essence goes much deeper. Venus is, in fact, the ruling influence of desire – the very force that drives human experiences of love, pleasure, and attachment to the material world.
From an astrological perspective, the Venus retrograde period challenges individuals to confront their desires, attachments, and illusions about love and relationships, yet for an initiate it can open the doors to undergoing a deeply transformative process and purification of desire. It provides an opportunity for inner alchemy, allowing one to purify and transmute their desires into a higher form of love and understanding. In sanskrit terms, this is the transmutation of k**a into bhakti, divine love and devotion. During this process, individuals can experience profound transformations that aid them in their pursuits of the alchemical process, attaining powerful levels of spiritual growth and liberation.
To read more about the Christian and Gnostic interpretations of this process, read the article linked below. If all 3 ordeals (which symbolically encode the entirety of the Venus purification process) are successfully overcome, it results in the culmination of the full alchemical process:
https://astral-alchemy.com/astral-insights/f/40-days-in-the-wilderness