Venus in Aquarius, Conjunct Pluto: Eros and the Will to Power.

At the point of the new moon on 18 January, Venus entered Aquarius and made an exact conjunction with Pluto the following day. On that day the Sun also entered Aquarius.

The archetype of Venus is concerned with the principle of eros, an active and dynamic force that connects individuals and psychic bonds.

For Jung, eros is a feminine principle characterized by the blurring of division to create wholeness. Eros is thought to be a natural expression of the feminine; Jung believed that it was less dominant in men for whom the principle of logos was more active.

In Aquarius, collective values shift from the individual to the collective, focused on social rather than individual power, while at the same time striving to be inclusive of all individuals. Concerned with humanitarian progress, the sharp and intellectual Aquarian mind devises strategies for human evolution and sometimes revolution.

Venus brings a quality of relatedness to Aquarius’ sometimes overly analytical and intellectual qualities of logos, or yang nature. Aquarius sometimes cares for ideals and systems more than the actual people within the systems. While Venus is a little more detached in Aquarius, she nevertheless bestows the essence of eros.

Jung noted that,

“Where love reigns, there is no will to power; and where the will to power is paramount, love is lacking. The one is but the shadow of the other,” (CW Vol.7).

Having just made a superior conjunction with the Sun before undergoing further transformations in Pluto’s realm, Venus is empowered and ready to contribute her much needed wisdom in these early degrees of Aquarius. Pluto will continue to facilitate Aquarian transformation for approximately the next 18 years. We can expect major changes in technology; social structures; humanitarian projects; human rights; and environmentalism, calling for greater accountability and transparency.

Without genuine eros, the will to power as an impulse toward domination, however subtly it manifests, is a potential danger.

In his 1883 work, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, Friedrich Nietzsche did not consider the will to power negatively and instead presented the concept as the fundamental driving force in all living things to expand their power, overcome resistance, and achieve self-mastery rather than merely surviving or seeking pleasure. He did however note that the will to power had a shadow side, that it was both constructive and destructive. In its shadow aspect it could manifest as mastery and domination over others. At best it guides an individual to transcend their limitations and create new values leading to self-mastery.

Nietzsche thought that true power lay within the individual to assert his or her own values. He also believed that everything was a matter of perspective and not an objective truth.

At the beginning of the age of Aquarius the push toward objective truth is strong; given that objective truth need not necessarily be negative, who’s to say what is and what is not of benefit for the “greater good”?

A question we may ask at the beginning of our collective Pluto in Aquarius journey is if the current technocratic powers are operating with a healthy degree of genuine Eros. Non-genuine Eros conveys an impression of love for the sake of appearances while concealing true motivations.

I write a lot about the return of the goddess; this is not some whimsical new age sugar coated ideal, it is a genuine enquiry into the nature of the feminine principle in our psyche, collectively and individually. This enquiry follows the waters of life as they flow in our flesh-and blood-bodies and upon the body of the Earth. It is a genuine quest, a feminine grail for the reintegration of the vital spark that has been dimmed in the disenchantment of the modern world.

In this collective shaping of the age of Aquarius, balancing eros and logos is the work of our time. Without eros and the feminine principle being fully re-rooted into our foundations we lose our ground of being.

Idealistic and apparently progressive systems can quickly turn sterile and controlling. Without genuine eros we are slowly stripped of our humanity. A synthetic, or artificial eros, presents an illusion of wholeness while creating fragmentation and isolation.

My point is that the cosmic feminine principle known throughout millennia as the goddess is today as likely to be subjected to deep fake counterfeit as anything else. Having already been somewhat demoted to goddess of romantic love, pleasure and material value in many modern astrological interpretations, it is wise to remember that Venus is a far more formidable essence of the feminine principle. It is clear, at least on the surface of today’s society, that eros is undeveloped and repressed. I think that is changing.

As Nietzsche warned, an underdeveloped or repressed eros leads to domination and control. We have witnessed this not only by the architects of culture and society but at all levels of human interaction.

Is a blending of the positive aspects of the will to power, eros, and genuine humanitarian goals possible in the coming years? We’re about to find out. Stay tuned to planet Earth.

 Image: Leonora Carrington, the Star tarot card, 1955Image: Leonora Carrington, the Star tarot card, 1955