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| CAULDRON OF THE GODDESS |
Venus has long been viewed as the quintessential Goddess Archetype, mostly concerned with beauty, love, relationship and
attraction. In today’s mechanistic and materialistic lifestyle, we’ve lost touch with the deeper aspects of the sacred graciousness
that lies at the root of this ancient Feminine Archetype. I would like to propose in this article, that we, as a society formed of
women and men, must choose to revitalize the true meaning of Venus’ symbolism. We’ve gone for too long relegating the
Goddess of beauty and love to the mere vision of ultra-thin runway models and make believe ‘soul-mate’ relationships. After all,
this hasn’t worked for us, has it? It’s caused nothing more than the lowest possible self-image in young women, crone-age women
and all ages in between, while feeding the negative and dangerously false fantasies of men and boys alike. This has caused much
grief, pain and suffering, in denying the Divine Feminine within ourselves, as we struggled to meet an impossible fantasy figure; or
worse, deny ourselves as worthy expressions of Divine Love.
How do we begin to heal this rift between body and soul? For me, part of the answer can be found in Astrological Venus, who
truly represents the Divine Feminine in both women and men. Although the Moon in Astrology is the main Archetype for the
Feminine, She is more about nurturing and mothering, and our right brain or emotional nature. Venus, on the other hand, takes
us into the realm of recognizing Beauty within ourselves and within Nature, as well as how we build self-esteem and about how we
relate to others and ourselves. Between Moon and Venus, we can paint a pretty good metaphorical picture of our Inner
Goddess, but for now, let us focus on Venus as the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
In Astrology, we say that the planet Venus ‘rules’ or has an affinity with the zodiac signs of Taurus and Libra. Without getting
too ‘technical’ with Astrological terms, let me say that we can begin to discover a great deal about Venus and how she represents
Beauty and Love buy studying the meanings of these 2 signs. Let me also assure you that regardless of your 'Sun Sign' or
even your 'Venus Sign', the following information on Taurus and Libra DO pertain to EVERYONE since we ALL have
these 2 Archetypes in our Psyche. So, let us continue..Taurus is very concerned with 3-dimensional physical reality and is
therefore related to that most earthy of human expressions – our bodies. Most people see Taurus as ‘money-oriented’ and
‘materialistic’ and though these terms can be used to describe this Archetype on one level, they don’t help to heal the deeper
separation we feel towards our bodies. Consider that the root of money and materialism is ‘mater’ which of course is the root of
the words, matter and Mother. Our Earth is our Mother, and our bodies come from the ground itself and the most perfect
sample of ‘matter.’ Somewhere in our ancestry as a race of Beings, we were convinced that loving our bodies was wrong – our
bodies were to be seen as a sinful and wretched aspect of being Human – especially the female body. Women were forevermore
condemned to live in shame and deny the natural beauty of our breasts, thighs, abdomens, lips, vagina, faces, hair, etc. The
groups of men who did decide to recognize beauty in women’s’ bodies did so at the expense of women’s personal integrity by
casting them in the role of sexual objects – separating our sexuality from our very souls. This is still very much the case with as
much rampant pornography and crass sexual marketing ploys used by the large corporations. So, you already know this right?
Why bother to make the point, you say? Because I feel it’s necessary to first realize that we are ‘victims’ (although I don’t believe
in true victimhood) of thousands of years of continual brainwashing so neither we as women, nor men, need to go into blame or
shame about how we currently feel about our bodies. We can all stop the nonsense by healing ourselves, now, one woman at a
time, and then inviting other women to do the same, and then invite the men…and there are plenty of men out there who are
actually doing the ‘inviting’ for us to work on healing this rift in Consciousness.
So, back to Venus: If in Taurus, the Goddess is concerned with the very matter of our bodies, then in Libra she is concerned
with our relationship with our bodies. Everything we see is an extension of our Selves. Everything we see, we are in ‘relationship’
with. We do not just relate to our husbands or bosses when we speak of ‘relationships’ – nor is it about just our kids, our clients
or our friends. Our relationships with these people are very dependent upon the relationship we have to OURSELVES.
Libra, as an Archetype, is mostly concerned with Balance. It is the ‘half-way’ point around the Zodiacal wheel and is symbolized
by a Scale. What do we do with a scale? What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Weight and measure! How much do we weigh
when we step on that scale? Also, because all relationships are ‘mirrors’ of aspects of ourselves, then we must also bring to mind
that ‘mirror, mirror on the wall...’ saga! How much of our relationship with our bodies affects the relationships we have with others?
And the reverse holds equally true, how deeply is our relationship with our bodies affected by what others mirror/say to us
about our bodies? How much of the way we view ourselves in the mirror affects the way we view others? And again the reverse is
true: how much is our perception of others’ beauty affect what we see in our own reflection when we ‘weigh’ ourselves against
that ‘other’ (outer) image? How much power does that scale hold over the manner in which you weigh and measure your True
Beauty? In most cases, we have great difficulty even acknowledging our True Beauty – never mind that we judge ourselves
horrifically for missing the target number which we equate with outer beauty! It’s really freakin’ insane!
So, follow me here – if Venus as the ruler of Taurus rules the earthiest matter that grounds us into this physical reality and by
extension this body we have is greatly modified by our sense of self-esteem or lack of it, then Venus as the ruler of Libra can flip-
flop tremendously on both the inner and outer scales! If we are unable to appreciate ourselves (Venus w/Taurus) then we will
have an awfully difficult time relating to ourselves in a fair, balanced and loving manner (Venus w/Libra). (Note: Libra of course
means ‘pound’ in Latin and Spanish)
A number of years ago, when I was designing the syllabus for my Celestial Archetypes Archetypal Astrology Course, I came
up with a simple process which helped students connect with Taurus, Venus and the 2nd House in their natal charts. First you
need to know some basic stuff - This is what I call Archetype Number 2 and some of its key words are as follows:
Self-esteem, values, our connection to matter/money/physical life/body, money in general, our ability to feel ‘grounded,’ our
connection to Earth/Gaia, our God/Dess-given Talents, Gifts and Abilities, the Law of Attraction, Beauty, Animal Nature,
the physical senses, sensuality, self-indulgence (yes, this is a GOOD thing!), chocolate (interesting I put that after self-
indulgence LOL!), Building, Architecture, patience and perseverance, focus on a goal, and our Bank Accounts (of which the
outer bank account held at Wachovia is fully dependent on One’s INNER BANK ACCOUNT). Art and Appreciation.
Stability.
So, that’s for starters to get you thinking, feeling, considering – we all have to deal with these issues in our lives, right? So the
zodiacal sign we have on our natal ‘2nd house’ reveals a great deal to us about how we view these issues, or in the case we aren’t
even aware of this, at least it shows us how to better align with these issues so that we can have a healthier relationship with them.
We also look to where you have the sign Taurus in your natal chart…same concept…and finally where is Venus by house and by
sign in order to determine how you relate to your body, your money, your physical matters, your beauty, your values….as well as
what can potentially help you to build self-esteem. And what form of the God/Dess or Face of the Divine Feminine you
embody or can ‘align’ with in order to bring about a healthier relationship with these above-mentioned issues.
Part of the exercise I mentioned was to take an ‘Inventory of My Inner Resources.’ This is all about finding ways to recognize just
how ‘worthy’ you really are and that in self-recognition, we begin the process of building self-esteem. There’s a lot more to the
process I designed, but suffice it to say that the more we learn to ‘appreciate’ ourselves for the gifts, talents, abilities, skills we
have, the more grounded we become in our Values and therefore both our Inner and Outer ‘Bank Accounts’ reflect this in a
powerful way. And of course by extension, it’s related to our bodies.
Once you’ve got that 2nd Archetype figured out, you move onto the 7th Archetype: Libra/Venus/7th House. The following
are a few key words for this one:
Relationships, partners, balance, finding Self through Others, Art, Beauty, Appreciation. Equality, fairness, decisions, Love,
Sacred Marriage.
Hmmm, so, are you getting any insights yet? Let me help. As I said, once you’ve got Archetype #2 figured out in your life, then
we begin to see how we achieve balance in our lives. With ourselves grounded in self-esteem, we can make better, fair decisions
about how we choose to relate to our bodies, and we can choose to see ourselves as worthy of self-love. There is no greater
‘partner’ than our own Self. But we often expect our husbands, kids, business partner, and friends to fill in the hole left back in
the second archetype by a lack of self-esteem. These 2 are intimately connected and very dependent on each other – it can be a
healthy relationship or an unhealthy codependency, which then becomes mirrored in our ‘outer relationships.’ I think we have all
gone through this and many of us continue to struggle with our bodies, our self-esteem, our ability to love ourselves, our
relationships, our connection to money, our inability to feel positively grounded on earth or to our bodies. I think we’ve all felt that
all too familiar pang of going into deep fear, leading us to ‘escape’ our bodies – run into the aethers in order to not feel – hence
we continue the vicious cycle of separation of body and soul.
The guilt, shame, and embarrassment we’ve felt about our bodies has left us in the ‘negative’ when we analyze our internal bank
statements. It sucks. How much do we have to ‘give’ and put out into circulation if we are in ‘the red’? How well can we relate to
others – and let me point out that this doesn’t mean we aren’t great Mothers, great Wives, etc – just that we may not be coming
from a place of wholeness, completeness – so when we ‘give’ of ourselves, we are borrowing from an energy supply that DOES
charge steep ‘interest.’ That’s why we end up physically burnt out. That’s why we are exhausted and dried up and unable at
some point to continue giving and sharing and relating to others. God/Dess, just writing this is cathartic for me – and I feel the
exhaustion in my very bones, my muscles and it’s no wonder I never have enough energy to go for a bike ride with my mate and
son! It’s no wonder that I personally have a hard time becoming ‘close’ to others when I know deep down inside I don’t feel whole.
So, in my case, as I’m sure happens to some of you, I go to the other extreme – since I’m painfully aware of my ‘imperfections’ I
tend to choose NOT to share myself as much as I’d like. I shut myself off from relationships with family and friends because I
know I have only so much to give before I get stressed out and panic and go into ‘hiding.’ Have any of you ever felt like that? It’s
all based on a lack of self-love and self-esteem. It’s a vicious cycle and one that is very, very difficult to break out of – but NOT
IMPOSSIBLE.
However, my belief now is that it is going to take a ‘tribal’ approach. A deep healing brought about by a common bond…to undo
the false self-image that’s taken thousands and thousands of years to build…I think a ‘forgiveness’ process would be
tremendously beneficial to release all the ways we’ve hurt our bodies, and our connection to Matter/Mother. Well, then that
leads me to Mare/Moon….
We find in The Moon, the key to nurturing ourselves. Here, our own Outer & Inner Mother takes us, feeds us, nourishes us,
cares for us and supports us. Again, this Archetype has been greatly demoted to negative descriptives like ‘lunatic’ to explain
away our Inner Divine Feminine as crazy and not worthy of being taken seriously – we have devalued that which we MUST
have in order to feel completely Loved. The Moon in our charts represents what we ‘need’ in order to feel nourished and
comforted. I believe that body-addictions stem from this inability to properly tend to our Lunar Needs. I think this is a very
important part of our experience on Earth – in order to truly embody the Brilliant Spark of the Divine, through the Individual
Temple we inhabit while incarnated, we must be able to create a sense of safety, comfort and self-nourishment first and
foremost. Through Astrological symbolism, I recognize that babies are most directly connected to their Moon/Mama. If the
babies are emotionally and physically ‘fed’ then they are able to grow strong and then express their Innate Genius which I believe
is the Sun Sign (this is part of my Cosmic Child teachings/workshops). From a psychological perspective, our Moon
Sign/House correlates to the base positions on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Here is a diagram to illustrate this:
As you can see, from the psychological perspective, we must first tend to immediate physical needs in order to ‘move up the
ladder’ towards self-realization. So, if somehow we as infants perceived an inability to feel safe, nurtured, grounded, then as
adults we struggle to fill that hole. That hole keeps us from feeling positive self-regard, which in turn makes us dependent on
other people to continually ‘feed’ energy into that hole, never realizing that only healing that rift will eventually bring us back to
whole-ness instead of hole-ness. Sigh…yes, it’s a long trip! But little by little, we can get to this Sacred Space within ourselves.
Maybe before working with Venus, we must work with Moon – deal with Mother and then with Goddess. Or maybe both
simultaneously since they tend to overlap, the One becoming a part of the Other – almost Mother/Daughter-like in feel. In any
case, we must start the Journey towards Wholeness as Womyn, yes?
Now, where to begin the healing process? I would suggest working astrologically with our natal Moon Sign to establish what our
basic 'needs' are. Then ask a series of key questions that can get us to a place of self-understanding. Questions such as, "Was
I properly nourished as a child by my Mother? Did I feel a sense of emotional connection to my Mother? Am I aware of any
unmet needs I had as a child? Am I even in touch with my needs? How can I fulfill my physiological and emotional needs now as an
adult, without becoming dependant on others as sources? Do I know what these needs are?
From there, we can move on to our astrological Venus position and do even deeper work regarding our bodies, our connection to
'matter,' how we feel about our innate gifts and talents, what do we need to do in order to build our self-esteem, how do we relate
to our bodies, what negative and positive 'mirrors' do we use to remind us of our own Inner Beauty? What do we love about
ourselves - both bodywise and talentwise? How do we relate to others based upon our relationship to ourselves?
And I can come up with a number of additional questions, but these are great starters to get us thinking and feeling about our
connection to ourselves as Living Temples of The Divine Feminine. Remember that we must 'go easy' on ourselves as we do this
work - it's literally an excavation process of some of our most deeply held beliefs about our bodies, about our needs, and about
our worth as Women. It's very powerful and we do need the support of other women to help us through some of the more
painful moments we may encounter as we 'dig up' the Past. We also need the support of the men since the healing goes hand in
hand with the Divine Masculine. We not only need the support of our male partners if we have them, but of our fathers, our
brothers, our sons...Don't forget that they, too, have suffered in the ignorance of false images as passed down to both sexes
through millenia by the religions, political groups, and other self-serving power hungry organizations that have demeaned the
human body, and human sexuality. This may seem like a very 'taboo' subject - mostly because of that agenda of control
perpetuated by said parties, so there's a lot of fear and embarrassment as we begin to inch closer to our own Truths. Be
courageous! Take heart! Dive into your Self fully! Trust the God/Dess in YOU to lead you to your own Inner Goddess!
If you would like to contact me to share feedback and feelings and thoughts on this subject, please email me at:
silvia @ cauldronofthegoddess.com
In peace and freedom,
Silvia Pancaro
The Flying Mermaid
Cauldron of The Goddess
attraction. In today’s mechanistic and materialistic lifestyle, we’ve lost touch with the deeper aspects of the sacred graciousness
that lies at the root of this ancient Feminine Archetype. I would like to propose in this article, that we, as a society formed of
women and men, must choose to revitalize the true meaning of Venus’ symbolism. We’ve gone for too long relegating the
Goddess of beauty and love to the mere vision of ultra-thin runway models and make believe ‘soul-mate’ relationships. After all,
this hasn’t worked for us, has it? It’s caused nothing more than the lowest possible self-image in young women, crone-age women
and all ages in between, while feeding the negative and dangerously false fantasies of men and boys alike. This has caused much
grief, pain and suffering, in denying the Divine Feminine within ourselves, as we struggled to meet an impossible fantasy figure; or
worse, deny ourselves as worthy expressions of Divine Love.
How do we begin to heal this rift between body and soul? For me, part of the answer can be found in Astrological Venus, who
truly represents the Divine Feminine in both women and men. Although the Moon in Astrology is the main Archetype for the
Feminine, She is more about nurturing and mothering, and our right brain or emotional nature. Venus, on the other hand, takes
us into the realm of recognizing Beauty within ourselves and within Nature, as well as how we build self-esteem and about how we
relate to others and ourselves. Between Moon and Venus, we can paint a pretty good metaphorical picture of our Inner
Goddess, but for now, let us focus on Venus as the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
In Astrology, we say that the planet Venus ‘rules’ or has an affinity with the zodiac signs of Taurus and Libra. Without getting
too ‘technical’ with Astrological terms, let me say that we can begin to discover a great deal about Venus and how she represents
Beauty and Love buy studying the meanings of these 2 signs. Let me also assure you that regardless of your 'Sun Sign' or
even your 'Venus Sign', the following information on Taurus and Libra DO pertain to EVERYONE since we ALL have
these 2 Archetypes in our Psyche. So, let us continue..Taurus is very concerned with 3-dimensional physical reality and is
therefore related to that most earthy of human expressions – our bodies. Most people see Taurus as ‘money-oriented’ and
‘materialistic’ and though these terms can be used to describe this Archetype on one level, they don’t help to heal the deeper
separation we feel towards our bodies. Consider that the root of money and materialism is ‘mater’ which of course is the root of
the words, matter and Mother. Our Earth is our Mother, and our bodies come from the ground itself and the most perfect
sample of ‘matter.’ Somewhere in our ancestry as a race of Beings, we were convinced that loving our bodies was wrong – our
bodies were to be seen as a sinful and wretched aspect of being Human – especially the female body. Women were forevermore
condemned to live in shame and deny the natural beauty of our breasts, thighs, abdomens, lips, vagina, faces, hair, etc. The
groups of men who did decide to recognize beauty in women’s’ bodies did so at the expense of women’s personal integrity by
casting them in the role of sexual objects – separating our sexuality from our very souls. This is still very much the case with as
much rampant pornography and crass sexual marketing ploys used by the large corporations. So, you already know this right?
Why bother to make the point, you say? Because I feel it’s necessary to first realize that we are ‘victims’ (although I don’t believe
in true victimhood) of thousands of years of continual brainwashing so neither we as women, nor men, need to go into blame or
shame about how we currently feel about our bodies. We can all stop the nonsense by healing ourselves, now, one woman at a
time, and then inviting other women to do the same, and then invite the men…and there are plenty of men out there who are
actually doing the ‘inviting’ for us to work on healing this rift in Consciousness.
So, back to Venus: If in Taurus, the Goddess is concerned with the very matter of our bodies, then in Libra she is concerned
with our relationship with our bodies. Everything we see is an extension of our Selves. Everything we see, we are in ‘relationship’
with. We do not just relate to our husbands or bosses when we speak of ‘relationships’ – nor is it about just our kids, our clients
or our friends. Our relationships with these people are very dependent upon the relationship we have to OURSELVES.
Libra, as an Archetype, is mostly concerned with Balance. It is the ‘half-way’ point around the Zodiacal wheel and is symbolized
by a Scale. What do we do with a scale? What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Weight and measure! How much do we weigh
when we step on that scale? Also, because all relationships are ‘mirrors’ of aspects of ourselves, then we must also bring to mind
that ‘mirror, mirror on the wall...’ saga! How much of our relationship with our bodies affects the relationships we have with others?
And the reverse holds equally true, how deeply is our relationship with our bodies affected by what others mirror/say to us
about our bodies? How much of the way we view ourselves in the mirror affects the way we view others? And again the reverse is
true: how much is our perception of others’ beauty affect what we see in our own reflection when we ‘weigh’ ourselves against
that ‘other’ (outer) image? How much power does that scale hold over the manner in which you weigh and measure your True
Beauty? In most cases, we have great difficulty even acknowledging our True Beauty – never mind that we judge ourselves
horrifically for missing the target number which we equate with outer beauty! It’s really freakin’ insane!
So, follow me here – if Venus as the ruler of Taurus rules the earthiest matter that grounds us into this physical reality and by
extension this body we have is greatly modified by our sense of self-esteem or lack of it, then Venus as the ruler of Libra can flip-
flop tremendously on both the inner and outer scales! If we are unable to appreciate ourselves (Venus w/Taurus) then we will
have an awfully difficult time relating to ourselves in a fair, balanced and loving manner (Venus w/Libra). (Note: Libra of course
means ‘pound’ in Latin and Spanish)
A number of years ago, when I was designing the syllabus for my Celestial Archetypes Archetypal Astrology Course, I came
up with a simple process which helped students connect with Taurus, Venus and the 2nd House in their natal charts. First you
need to know some basic stuff - This is what I call Archetype Number 2 and some of its key words are as follows:
Self-esteem, values, our connection to matter/money/physical life/body, money in general, our ability to feel ‘grounded,’ our
connection to Earth/Gaia, our God/Dess-given Talents, Gifts and Abilities, the Law of Attraction, Beauty, Animal Nature,
the physical senses, sensuality, self-indulgence (yes, this is a GOOD thing!), chocolate (interesting I put that after self-
indulgence LOL!), Building, Architecture, patience and perseverance, focus on a goal, and our Bank Accounts (of which the
outer bank account held at Wachovia is fully dependent on One’s INNER BANK ACCOUNT). Art and Appreciation.
Stability.
So, that’s for starters to get you thinking, feeling, considering – we all have to deal with these issues in our lives, right? So the
zodiacal sign we have on our natal ‘2nd house’ reveals a great deal to us about how we view these issues, or in the case we aren’t
even aware of this, at least it shows us how to better align with these issues so that we can have a healthier relationship with them.
We also look to where you have the sign Taurus in your natal chart…same concept…and finally where is Venus by house and by
sign in order to determine how you relate to your body, your money, your physical matters, your beauty, your values….as well as
what can potentially help you to build self-esteem. And what form of the God/Dess or Face of the Divine Feminine you
embody or can ‘align’ with in order to bring about a healthier relationship with these above-mentioned issues.
Part of the exercise I mentioned was to take an ‘Inventory of My Inner Resources.’ This is all about finding ways to recognize just
how ‘worthy’ you really are and that in self-recognition, we begin the process of building self-esteem. There’s a lot more to the
process I designed, but suffice it to say that the more we learn to ‘appreciate’ ourselves for the gifts, talents, abilities, skills we
have, the more grounded we become in our Values and therefore both our Inner and Outer ‘Bank Accounts’ reflect this in a
powerful way. And of course by extension, it’s related to our bodies.
Once you’ve got that 2nd Archetype figured out, you move onto the 7th Archetype: Libra/Venus/7th House. The following
are a few key words for this one:
Relationships, partners, balance, finding Self through Others, Art, Beauty, Appreciation. Equality, fairness, decisions, Love,
Sacred Marriage.
Hmmm, so, are you getting any insights yet? Let me help. As I said, once you’ve got Archetype #2 figured out in your life, then
we begin to see how we achieve balance in our lives. With ourselves grounded in self-esteem, we can make better, fair decisions
about how we choose to relate to our bodies, and we can choose to see ourselves as worthy of self-love. There is no greater
‘partner’ than our own Self. But we often expect our husbands, kids, business partner, and friends to fill in the hole left back in
the second archetype by a lack of self-esteem. These 2 are intimately connected and very dependent on each other – it can be a
healthy relationship or an unhealthy codependency, which then becomes mirrored in our ‘outer relationships.’ I think we have all
gone through this and many of us continue to struggle with our bodies, our self-esteem, our ability to love ourselves, our
relationships, our connection to money, our inability to feel positively grounded on earth or to our bodies. I think we’ve all felt that
all too familiar pang of going into deep fear, leading us to ‘escape’ our bodies – run into the aethers in order to not feel – hence
we continue the vicious cycle of separation of body and soul.
The guilt, shame, and embarrassment we’ve felt about our bodies has left us in the ‘negative’ when we analyze our internal bank
statements. It sucks. How much do we have to ‘give’ and put out into circulation if we are in ‘the red’? How well can we relate to
others – and let me point out that this doesn’t mean we aren’t great Mothers, great Wives, etc – just that we may not be coming
from a place of wholeness, completeness – so when we ‘give’ of ourselves, we are borrowing from an energy supply that DOES
charge steep ‘interest.’ That’s why we end up physically burnt out. That’s why we are exhausted and dried up and unable at
some point to continue giving and sharing and relating to others. God/Dess, just writing this is cathartic for me – and I feel the
exhaustion in my very bones, my muscles and it’s no wonder I never have enough energy to go for a bike ride with my mate and
son! It’s no wonder that I personally have a hard time becoming ‘close’ to others when I know deep down inside I don’t feel whole.
So, in my case, as I’m sure happens to some of you, I go to the other extreme – since I’m painfully aware of my ‘imperfections’ I
tend to choose NOT to share myself as much as I’d like. I shut myself off from relationships with family and friends because I
know I have only so much to give before I get stressed out and panic and go into ‘hiding.’ Have any of you ever felt like that? It’s
all based on a lack of self-love and self-esteem. It’s a vicious cycle and one that is very, very difficult to break out of – but NOT
IMPOSSIBLE.
However, my belief now is that it is going to take a ‘tribal’ approach. A deep healing brought about by a common bond…to undo
the false self-image that’s taken thousands and thousands of years to build…I think a ‘forgiveness’ process would be
tremendously beneficial to release all the ways we’ve hurt our bodies, and our connection to Matter/Mother. Well, then that
leads me to Mare/Moon….
We find in The Moon, the key to nurturing ourselves. Here, our own Outer & Inner Mother takes us, feeds us, nourishes us,
cares for us and supports us. Again, this Archetype has been greatly demoted to negative descriptives like ‘lunatic’ to explain
away our Inner Divine Feminine as crazy and not worthy of being taken seriously – we have devalued that which we MUST
have in order to feel completely Loved. The Moon in our charts represents what we ‘need’ in order to feel nourished and
comforted. I believe that body-addictions stem from this inability to properly tend to our Lunar Needs. I think this is a very
important part of our experience on Earth – in order to truly embody the Brilliant Spark of the Divine, through the Individual
Temple we inhabit while incarnated, we must be able to create a sense of safety, comfort and self-nourishment first and
foremost. Through Astrological symbolism, I recognize that babies are most directly connected to their Moon/Mama. If the
babies are emotionally and physically ‘fed’ then they are able to grow strong and then express their Innate Genius which I believe
is the Sun Sign (this is part of my Cosmic Child teachings/workshops). From a psychological perspective, our Moon
Sign/House correlates to the base positions on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Here is a diagram to illustrate this:
As you can see, from the psychological perspective, we must first tend to immediate physical needs in order to ‘move up the
ladder’ towards self-realization. So, if somehow we as infants perceived an inability to feel safe, nurtured, grounded, then as
adults we struggle to fill that hole. That hole keeps us from feeling positive self-regard, which in turn makes us dependent on
other people to continually ‘feed’ energy into that hole, never realizing that only healing that rift will eventually bring us back to
whole-ness instead of hole-ness. Sigh…yes, it’s a long trip! But little by little, we can get to this Sacred Space within ourselves.
Maybe before working with Venus, we must work with Moon – deal with Mother and then with Goddess. Or maybe both
simultaneously since they tend to overlap, the One becoming a part of the Other – almost Mother/Daughter-like in feel. In any
case, we must start the Journey towards Wholeness as Womyn, yes?
Now, where to begin the healing process? I would suggest working astrologically with our natal Moon Sign to establish what our
basic 'needs' are. Then ask a series of key questions that can get us to a place of self-understanding. Questions such as, "Was
I properly nourished as a child by my Mother? Did I feel a sense of emotional connection to my Mother? Am I aware of any
unmet needs I had as a child? Am I even in touch with my needs? How can I fulfill my physiological and emotional needs now as an
adult, without becoming dependant on others as sources? Do I know what these needs are?
From there, we can move on to our astrological Venus position and do even deeper work regarding our bodies, our connection to
'matter,' how we feel about our innate gifts and talents, what do we need to do in order to build our self-esteem, how do we relate
to our bodies, what negative and positive 'mirrors' do we use to remind us of our own Inner Beauty? What do we love about
ourselves - both bodywise and talentwise? How do we relate to others based upon our relationship to ourselves?
And I can come up with a number of additional questions, but these are great starters to get us thinking and feeling about our
connection to ourselves as Living Temples of The Divine Feminine. Remember that we must 'go easy' on ourselves as we do this
work - it's literally an excavation process of some of our most deeply held beliefs about our bodies, about our needs, and about
our worth as Women. It's very powerful and we do need the support of other women to help us through some of the more
painful moments we may encounter as we 'dig up' the Past. We also need the support of the men since the healing goes hand in
hand with the Divine Masculine. We not only need the support of our male partners if we have them, but of our fathers, our
brothers, our sons...Don't forget that they, too, have suffered in the ignorance of false images as passed down to both sexes
through millenia by the religions, political groups, and other self-serving power hungry organizations that have demeaned the
human body, and human sexuality. This may seem like a very 'taboo' subject - mostly because of that agenda of control
perpetuated by said parties, so there's a lot of fear and embarrassment as we begin to inch closer to our own Truths. Be
courageous! Take heart! Dive into your Self fully! Trust the God/Dess in YOU to lead you to your own Inner Goddess!
If you would like to contact me to share feedback and feelings and thoughts on this subject, please email me at:
silvia @ cauldronofthegoddess.com
In peace and freedom,
Silvia Pancaro
The Flying Mermaid
Cauldron of The Goddess
| Venus & Moon: Our Inner Goddess and Metaphor for The Divine Feminine Within THIS MONTH'S TOPIC: Our Relationship to our body By Silvia J. pancaro |
| ALL Writings in this website are COPYWRITE 2006 Silvia J. Pancaro. Contents may NOT be copied without prior express written consent of the author. All Rights Reserved. |
