Venus On the Ma’at
Venus will be in her home sign from August 29th until September 23, 2024.
I hit the mat this morning, contemplating the news of the deaths of two childhood neighbors. These deaths happened within a week or so of each other, but I had learned about each in the last 24 hours. They both had lived in my neighborhood growing up. We were friendly acquaintances, often passing one another on bikes, in hallways, mingling at the same parties. In my eyes, they are still young and taken too soon. They both serve as sobering reminders to the provisional aspect of life; precious, temporary, and mutable.
I hit the mat in need for mental stillness and also as an offering to the spirits, a quiet prayer for the souls who left and to the souls who float. I find myself floating a lot these days, floating between the ethereal and the mundane. Overstimulated in thoughts of other worlds and equally consumed by the politics of this world.
Venus in Libra seeks balance, she seeks truth, she seeks justice, she seeks order, she seeks understanding. Symbolized by the scales, Venus in Libra is similar to Egyptian Goddess Ma’at, who oversees the orderliness to the universe. Weighing her own feather against the heart of each man, calculating humanity’s acts, deeming them worthy of continuing on into the afterlife. Venus in Libra seeks order amongst the chaos, attempting to find reason, logic, truth, balance and beauty.
I cannot speak to the hearts that left us this week, and the state they were in. We're the scales balanced, this is personal to each one of us. This week is a reminder to find balance in our own scales of the world we are trying to order. Does your own life feel chaotic, swirling with uncertainty? Can we bring this to our mind’s eye, to the mat, and out into life?
On the mat, our weaknesses and points of tension are quickly identified. We seek to bring each side of our body into equilibrium. We have days where warrior three feels stable and steady, other days, our left foot shakes with uncertainty, our hips fumble to find center, we tip over. This is often a direct reflection of the mind and the way our thoughts bounce around, translating into whether we can stand firm like a rooted tree or we sway wildly to the wind in our own mind.
A good practice is to find equal balance to each asana, including equal breath and depth to each pose. This isn’t just for aesthetics, that is secondary. The equality each pose seeks to each side of the body is to find balance and ultimately stillness to the system as a whole. Yoga means union, to yoke and bring together as one. I also envision during my practice, the union of my own soul and spirit, equally pulling energy from the ground and the sky. My body is the divine rod channeling both together in this moment of space and time.
Venus entered Libra August 29th, and her time here is just under a month. This is a month where we can attempt to find stillness in our mind, in our heart, and on the mat. Can we make the goal of our practice to translate to our perception in life? Can we balance our own scales, seeking beauty, truth and order? This will look different to different people, but it all should usher in a calmness, a stillness, where the scales do not swing wildly.
Pay attention to where you place your thoughts, activities, and stresses. If you are worrying daily, do you stop and take time for gratitude for what is going right? If you find yourself consuming too much processed food, are you able to replace one meal a day with fresh, nutrient-dense, close to the source food? Have you been overly focused on how your partner annoys you? Can you take ten minutes and meditate on their face as a pure soul of light and connect to how they make you smile? These are little ways we can balance our scales, reprogram our monkey mind, open our heart.
Venus in Libra wants equality for the world and for the soul. This may require extreme honesty in where we allow our own tyrant acts to override the Venusian program. Whether its external critique or self-loathing, this is not Venus’ truth, nor is it beautiful and just. If we were to balance your own heart on the scale in the Hall of Judgement, would you be permitted to pass on?