LOVE IN THE TIME OF WAR: A meeting of Venus, Mars, Pluto - Part 2

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Today, March 3rd , Mars, Venus and Pluto come into conjunction. This article is a continuation of Part 1 sent out on February 24th . To review, Mars and Venus have been very close to each other since early February, coming into exact conjunction on February 15th. They continue in conjunction essentially until after Equinox, March 21st, but while together they meet Pluto on March 3rd . There are of course so many dimensions and avenues for understanding this configuration and these planetary realms. I apologize in advance for condensing many complex considerations but this is needed to keep the article succinct. Hopefully many readers are familiar with the work of Rudolf Steiner and have the background understanding to fill in the contexts.

We continue with the theme of the polarity or duality of Mars and Venus and their movement in Sagittarius with its polarity, especially in relation to this world “ego axis” of Sagittarius/Gemini, and the role of the “I” in this context. It is important here to make a distinction between these two words which are often used as synonyms when in fact they are not. Words matter. This distinction is important as it plays into the question of the place of the “I” in the context of opposites. Duality or dualism indicates contrast or opposition between two different elements with opposite natures. Whereas, polarity indicates the potential for reconciliation of opposites, bringing about a kind of unity. The opposites do not repulse each other but attract each other. They work together rather than against each other. Here we have a key point which is central to the role of the “I” in this context of Sagittarius and in our understanding of Mars and Venus in our times. Is the relationship between the lower nature and the higher nature a dualism or a polarity? In the centaur imagination of Sagittarius, we have one key component which perhaps can answer this question. Sagittarius shows the upper/human body and the lower/animal horse, but significantly the human is AIMING with a bow and arrow. There is intent, purpose, aim. This is the “I” element that unifies Sagittarius so that it is not just a dualism of higher and lower, but a polarity in which the “I” is actively evolving towards a goal, an aim out of the polarity.

The same can be asked about Mars and Venus, about East and West, about war and peace…the list could go on. The question is then, what makes the difference between duality and polarity? It is here that we find the activity of the “I am” at work. In our current world climate, perhaps particularly in America, we see more and more the ascent of dualism rather than polarity. If you are not with me, you are against me. Gender becomes opposing dualistic. Race becomes opposing dualistic. Politics becomes opposing dualistic. The “new” Cold War becomes opposing dualistic. As this war continues we can see in mainstream media and government the divisive drumbeat building. Already in President Biden’s State of the Union message, the glory of this war is celebrated as the “first unifying battle in democracy’s new duel with tyranny”. Now that the great threat of the invisible enemy Covid is on the wane, the West now has “a new common enemy and cause.” No need to delve into the political/economic motives going on here and the origins of what is currently unfolding.

During this Mars and Venus conjunction period, we can take on this question of dualism or polarity. Their difference, even opposition, is clearly indicated in mythological representations as well as in number and form, but the question for now is what is the relation and importance of the “I” within this duality? And even to take it further, which “I” are we placing in this duality? The challenge is to stand awake in the middle and not identify with one or the other side of the dualism. This will take us into our exploration of the distinction between Mars and Venus, particularly at what I think is a turning point in the world today. One could even say we are now fully reaping the consequences of Mars and not yet able to realize the work of Venus in a new way into the future precisely because of this lack of understanding of the nature of the “I am”. We can apply this within our own being and within our human relationships, both personal and expanded to broader societal and global relationships, such as the obvious current situation between Russia and the West, or one could even say more broadly the East and West, which is really what underlies the current situation.

So, let us begin with the big picture of Mars and Venus in an evolutionary context as perhaps a lemniscate form or, more simply, a U curve and dig down from there. Rudolf Steiner speaks about the first half of Earth evolution as the Mars half of evolution and the second half as the occult Mercury (which is Venus) half of Earth evolution. (This distinction between occult Mercury and Venus is a complex topic which cannot be taken up here.) These two halves of Earth evolution are demarcated by the event of Golgotha, or one can say by the entry into Earth of the true I AM, as a seed for all human beings to unfold, independent of religion. It brings a new capacity, not a new teaching, to human beings. Here lies the turning point in the U curve or the crossing point of the lemniscate. The purpose of the Mars half of evolution was to develop the self/ego as separate individual out of the confrontation and immersion into the world of matter, of space and to develop the will forces necessary to stand firm in the world. The purpose of the Venus half of evolution is to lead the independent ego into a reunion and reintegration with the divine spiritual and into a brother/sisterhood with fellow humans and divine beings without the loss of the individualized self. It is the path from the individual to the community; from the separate self to a shared humanity.

One way to look at the transition from Mars to Venus in human evolution is through number and form. In our time number has become entirely quantitative. We have lost the qualitative or spiritual dimension of number. This of course is very Martian! Yet, number once meant only quality. It needs to now become again qualitative without losing its quantitative reality. For our purpose we look at the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The number 1 represents unity…the beginning where all was One.

The number 2 represents dualism, separation takes place from the unity. We see it everywhere: left and right brain, night and day, death and life, male and female, etc. In fact, dualism and opposition are fundamental to the development of the Martian self in world evolution. It is inherent in the world of space and matter. It represents our sense of self as “I am NOT that.” As the young child emerges from a state of unity to separation by encountering opposition, by “waking up”, so the human being has emerged from a state of unity with the divine to a state of separation through encountering the resistance of the physical world, the experience of space, of opposites.

The number 3 is the number of trinity and here we come to the great mystery of the trinity as well as to the immense change with the 2, when the 3rd is added. With 3 we move past dualism, opposites and come into a dynamic such as expressed in the threefold human being of body, soul, and spirit, or thinking, feeling and willing, or Manas, Buddhi, Atman. Here we have the 3 in the 1, as is the Trinity. One can think here of the impact on human evolution of the Catholic Council of 869, often cited by Rudolf Steiner, as the major turning point, eliminating the spirit and making the human being a dualistic being rather than a trinitarian being.

When we come to the numbers 4 and 5 we come to Mars and Venus.

The number 4 is the number 2 squared and this number is the number for Space, our four cardinal directions in space, the cross. It is the form of the square. Thus, it is the number for our Earth object consciousness developed in the biosphere due to our entry into space and matter by which we define all things. The Square is the form of the planet Mars, if we think of Mars not as a material body as modern astronomy sees it, but a sphere of being. If one follows the conjunctions of Mars with the Sun over time, first a square, and then double square is created in the heavens (see Online Video Course: The Planets for more). This is a form picture of the nature and being of Mars. In the square we have the element of confrontation. We even use square imagery in our language to express the Martian element. We say we are “at right angles” when we are in a challenging, confrontative relationship with someone. We call someone “a square” who rigidly adheres to traditional forms of behavior, and who cannot “think out of the box”, to use another Martian image. Salt, the mineral associated with Earth, is in the form of a cube. So, we can see in Mars that through this experience of opposition, of space, of matter, of quantity, we have been able to achieve a mighty goal. We have been able to separate our self, to become a unique and separate individual, and to thus experience our individual freedom. I am NOT that. I am my self. This is the sense of I that has especially developed in western humanity, leading to our cult of individualism, a necessary and important evolutionary development, but past the time of its healthy development.

The number 5 is 4+1. What is this plus 1? Five is the number of the human being. How can we understand this? This will take us back to the 3 in 1, the unity of 1 formed from the 3. The best way to represent this is perhaps with an image:

Here we have the square. I have purposely drawn an imperfect square as this is actually what Mars creates in the heavens. It forms the square, but it is always a bit rough and uneven, just as is Mars. Above it is the triangle. So, we have the 4 and the 3, or the earthly space consciousness and the higher trinity nature, or one could say the spiritual consciousness. In the second image, we unite the triangle and the square and in the third image the two merge so that the boundary line becomes part of the pentagram form inside the pentagon. And we then have the square becoming the pentagon/pentagram. The 4 becomes the 5. We can view this as the true human who has developed the higher trinitarian faculties of its being which are on one level, imagination, inspiration and intuition…but on a higher level, which one could say would be the 10 level, or the double pentagon which is what is created by Venus in its full life cycle, the level of Manas, Buddhi, Atman…the human become fully human, the resurrected human. The fallen Earthly Adam becomes the New Adam, the true Human Being. When this is completely fulfilled humans will have overcome matter and moved into their higher next phase of existence. This is the path of Venus, which is only now at its beginning, since the event of the Resurrection.

Here in form and number, in Mars and Venus, we have our evolutionary past and future represented.

So, perhaps we can all instinctively understand the nature of Mars in us and in our consciousness through evolution. We have lived it! One could say that Mars reached its culmination during the Roman times, when the Christ incarnated. This is the bottom of the U Curve. With Rome we have for the first time the concept of the individual in a new way, as “citizen” not as a tribal or blood member. This was a first. We have the development of law and the state. We have wars that were not tribal wars but wars to build an Empire through force and might. Rudolf Steiner indicates that in Roman empire building we have a kind of Ahrimanic effort to create a one world system of power and control. The further evolution of the Mars impulse in the world, particularly in the West, is in many ways the ongoing momentum of Romanism. This theme could be further expanded, but is presented here, particularly in the context of the current war. What are the forces truly underlying this conflict?

As Mars exhibits its nature very clearly in our consciousness and how we relate to matter and our “self”, Venus is more of a mystery. It is a mystery first because it is a new stage of consciousness and second because it cannot be defined in hard clear outlines as can Mars. In Venus we begin the stage of consciousness connected more to life and movement, rather than matter and space. Also, in truth, Venus itself has been “martianized” over time. We view Venus now more as sensual (as in the senses), sexual (Eros and Aphrodite). At one time there were mystery centers dedicated to the Venus goddesses, those divine feminine mysteries of Demeter, Astarte, Ashtoreth, even Isis. Yet by the time of Christ, these had become decadent and completely Luciferic. So, what is the true nature of Venus? What is its relation to Lucifer? It has indeed gone through an evolution, just as Earth has gone through an evolution. It is now even spiritually quite different than earlier eras. In essence Venus has made the evolutionary journey from light to love and this journey is also the journey of Lucifer. What does this mean?

We learn from Rudolf Steiner’s comprehensive descriptions of the earlier stages of planetary evolution, and the spiritual beings involved, that at one time, during the stage of evolution called in esotericism the Ancient Sun condition, Lucifer was Venus, the Light bringer, and was the brother of Christ. This is of course a vast topic which I can only touch on here to draw the thread that leads us to Venus. But here we have the relationship of Lucifer to light, but this light was different than his Brother’s light, the Light of Christ. This is a key point to our understanding of Venus as well as its transformation through the Christ event. It is the key to our conscious working with the Venus sphere in our times, out of the Christic-I AM versus the Luciferic ego. Here we can begin to see the two “I’s” or the dualistic directions of the “I am” experience that can come from Mars or Venus…or one could go so far as to say from Ahriman and Lucifer. Just as the “Martian ego” unites us with the material world where Ahriman rules, the “Luciferic ego” offers transcendence above the mere earthly into a world of light, into a divine spiritual world. As Lucifer says to the human, “Ye are gods!”.

Yet what is the key element that distinguishes the Christ from Lucifer? In the lecture cycle, Man in the Light of Occultism, Theosophy and Philosophy, Lectures IX and X, Rudolf Steiner goes more deeply into the evolution of Lucifer/Venus in relation to the human being. For this article, the following quote can help us:

When we direct our gaze now to Christ, now again to Lucifer, a new perception begins to dawn upon us. Lucifer, the ruler of Venus, appears in a form that is extraordinarily full of light…But then we notice, when we begin to perceive his intentions (emphasis by Steiner) –and we are able to see through these—that Lucifer is a Spirit endowed in his very nature with infinite pride, so great a pride that it can prove a temptation to man…And how does the Christ figure look beside Lucifer? The Christ figure…is a picture of utmost devotion, entire devotion to all that is around Him in the world. Whereas Lucifer looks like one who thinks only of himself, Christ appears as wholly given up, in devotion, to all that is around Him in the great wide world…Such is the contrast that presents itself – the Christ Who receives the Word of Worlds, and the proud Lucifer, the Spirit of Venus, who rejects the Word of Worlds and wants to found and establish everything in his own light.

Here we see the core distinction: the Light which lives in devotion to the Word of Worlds (the Father) vs the light of Lucifer which serves only itself. On a deeper level we here find the distinction between the manifest and the unmanifest light. In Lucifer/Venus the glory of enlightenment, the diving into the inner self to achieve light-filled transcendence is the goal. Steiner then continues in these lectures to bring in the task of the Buddha in relation to Venus. In this we can perhaps gain insight into the fundamental polarity between East and West in the “I” experience.

Early in Earth evolution, the Sun separated out from the Earth sphere and later, Venus and Mercury separated out from the Sun.

Together with Venus are Beings who had also at first gone with the Sun but were not able to remain there. These break away and inhabit Venus. Among them is the Being who stands behind the later Buddha. He went as a messenger from the Christ to the dwellers on Venus. The Christ sent him to Venus.

It is not possible to encapsulate the complex and lofty evolutionary path of the being who became the Gautama Buddha here, except in the context of our understanding of Venus and Mars. This being, as Venus being, prepared the way for the Christ, becoming the Buddha in the 6 th century before Christ as the great Teacher of love and compassion. From the spiritual world he continued in service of Christ, particularly as he who overshadowed the pure Luke-Nathan Jesus child and his continued service from the spiritual world for the Christ impulse on Earth, as for example through St. Francis and the monastic stream. In 1604 in a meeting of spiritual Masters, he was sent to the sphere of Mars, to continue his message of compassion and love through a deed of sacrifice, akin to a crucifixion, to begin the redemption of the warlike and unruly Mars sphere, where his work continues. In fact, it is this deed of Buddha in the Mars sphere, which Rudolf Steiner describes as facilitating the Rosicrucian stream of founding a spirituality that unites the spiritual and material world so that humanity would not be divided into those who enter fully only into the material and those who aspire to the spiritual through monastic existence. In the Buddha path we find the ascent to the light without the Luciferic pride, but rather a path of inner devotion, even monastic commitment to the regulation of the astral nature. His 8-fold path is the path of freeing the astral nature of its desire element and attachment to the worldly so that it can ascend to enlightenment. It is the path that leads to compassion for the suffering of others who are bound to the world through the karma of the astral desire body. Yet it is a path of “ascent” to the spiritual, leading to removal from the suffering of Earth with the goal of attaining Nirvana. When Christ came he initiated the opposite path into the Earth. Buddha as a Venus being served the Christ light, thus working to heal the consequence of the fall of Lucifer and his rebellion during the time of the Ancient Moon evolution and his activity in the astral (consciousness) body of the human being, as described in the story of the Fall in Genesis. Yet Buddha could only prepare humanity with the teaching of compassion and love. Only with the Christ did the teaching become a capacity. Christ will as Thy will, not my will, in devotion to the Father, the Word of Worlds, brought the new force of love and transformation into the Earth.

But how did the transformation of Lucifer light into love take place? The proud Lucifer witnessed the deed of Christ for the Earth and was changed, redeemed. This is depicted, according to Steiner, in the scene of the two thieves crucified with Christ. On the right, is Lucifer, who recognizes the Christ deed of love. He asks for forgiveness. On the left is Ahriman who still curses the Christ. In this we have the journey of Venus/Lucifer from light to love – from the great light of Lucifer/Venus distorted through pride; to the path of enlightenment of the Buddha/Venus which leads to the teaching of love and compassion; to the deed of Christ, the deed of love for the Earth, which gives not the teaching but the capacity for love out of the true I and the redemption of Lucifer through devotion to the World All Father Will. This is the basis for what Willi Sucher describes in relation to Venus as the bearer of the “new Christian mysteries”.

In these weeks we have Venus and Mars in “conference”. Can it be a cosmic dialogue on how we begin to move forward as human beings into the new Christ-Venus future while recognizing the gifts of Mars to our becoming? Can it be a polarity rather than a duality? Through the right understanding of the Christ in our humanity and our own path of self-transformation, we can become able to take the path of Venus in the new way, not in rejection of the Mars element but in the mastery and transformation of the Mars element through our love for the truly human in each individual beyond nation, race, gender, etc. This new way finds the middle point of the lemniscate holding the dynamic tension between Lucifer and Ahriman, meaning between the Martian centric self, asserting external power and force in the material world and the becoming Venus self which unites with the power and love of Christ as a transforming force in the world through devotion to the Divine Will of the Father plan for humanity.

Today these planets meet Pluto. If one just considers this, it can, looking at how we are dealing with the world situation so far, lead to great concern. As pointed out in my video course on the Outer Planets, Pluto is related to the highest and lowest potentialities in humanity, connected with the will, and most often in our time to the destructive, revolutionary force of the will. It is connected with what Rudolf Steiner predicted as “the 3rd Force” stronger than the “greatest electrical charge imaginable”. It is connected with the anti-Father forces, with the destruction even of the human “I”, with the Asuric forces and the work of Sorath against the Sun Christ. These are powerful and disturbing images, painful to even present here. Yet, Pluto carries also the potential for great transformation through the will, if we can raise our consciousness to meet it, out of the Christ Will working in humanity.

There is no predictive power in the stars. They, as cosmic beings, await our answers. Sadly, we have not heard the questions posed as we need to, as we are not listening. The opposing beings do not wait, they interfere. So, the great question in these weeks and from this meeting today and over the next days is what will we need to learn to change our ways. It is in this context that we must be aware and confident of the good spiritual forces at work beyond our human capacity and outside of our conscious awareness, if we but seek the help.

I am reading from many new thinkers emerging in our time, outside of the mainstream and do see much hope that a new consciousness of our humanity is emerging. Perhaps more destruction and suffering are the only way for this to come about. One person with an emerging vision is Charles Eisenstein, who wrote in an article on Feb. 28th, titled The Field of Peace, words that articulate quite well what the new must become in our time.

Will the ancient pattern continue forever? Has anything in human nature changed that will deliver us from the cycle of war begetting war and hate begetting hate? Actually, something has changed. We are in a new age of humanity—call it an age of compassion, of reunion, of interbeing—inaugurated, paradoxically, by the most murderous human invention ever: nuclear weapons…. A corollary is that matters of right and wrong are no longer to be solved by force. Paradoxically, the mightiest force ever conceived has made force obsolete as a final solution. We face the necessity of another kind of solution, a new and unfamiliar storyline… May we look first for the humanity and divinity of all we meet. May we be free of all vestiges of the habit of organizing the world into good guys and bad guys. May we see and cease our own role in the creation of enemies. May we believe so strongly in the possibility of compassion of others that we become a walking invitation that calls it forth into reality.

Perhaps the surest path to realizing this new “storyline” for humanity is stated simply by Rudolf Steiner:

To experience the I in such a way that it speaks to me as a you, that is Christ. We could also say that is love, when the you becomes an I for me.