Moon Venus Conjunction at the Root Chakra

Art: Anita Kreituse

Venus and the Moon meet at the Root Chakra Gateway of descent at 10 degrees Cancer, conjunct Black Moon Lilith at 8 degrees Cancer.

Cancer is the womb, the gateway into this dimension. The primordial lake from which creation arises and gestates. She also holds the frequency of the Moon, Matter, Mother. The Mother is one of the oldest religious symbols often connected to the primary waters, and the earth itself. The Mother is mysterious, nurturing and sustaining, but also dangerous, dark and destructive. From her comes abundance and the power to give and sustain life, but also the unavoidable fact of death. The Mother is womb and tomb, and contains the whole cycle of birth and death within her being.

Primordial Mother myths are also, often, related to chaos, a point of fact that is forgotten and even, actively avoided in our modern world. Modernity has sought to conquer and control nature rather than live alongside it. We have helicopter mothers now, instead of mothers who teach us how to submit to life, and partner with the cycles of nature.

Cancer itself deals with the themes of Love, Safety, (think nervous system regulation), rest, & homeostasis. The way we thrive in a sanctuary environment. It is a place of nurturance, sustenance. Being the home sign of the Moon, Cancer is also the nursery of Soul. As a watery sign, often thought of as the MOST emotional, it can be an interesting place to explore root chakra themes. How do we ground into water? With its changeability? With no earth to anchor us?

Venus herself, as a planet, speaks to us about connection, attachment, values, resources, love attraction, etc. However, as the Feminine Principle and our guide on the journey through her cycle, she is something more.

At each gateway She asks us to reflect on how we are “attached” to our rituals of domestication around each chakra that hold our ego and identity in place. She is, in effect, initiating us into the realm of chaos, and paradox, which is the realm of the Feminine. She helps us to heal the inevitable psychic split that was introduced when Dominator Culture emerged and we lost touch with the wisdom stored on her Mandala.

In the realm of the root chakra, it is the rituals of security and safety that we are exploring.

With the Gateway Conjunction happening within 2 degrees of Lilith, we’d be remiss not to mention her influence, and what she will likely bring in to initiate us this month. She is the principle of Severing, Ruthlessness that is rooted in love, Wildness, Radical Sovereignty, and non-domestication. She is taboo, an edgewalker. Not afraid to fly in the face of norms.

If we see Venus as the principle of attachment, and attraction, Lilith is the principle of Severing us from our attachments, and repulsion. Lilith can tear our world asunder with one slash of Her sword. Often using the simple tool of truth. Cutting away illusion, or self-delusion.

What we are exploring this month: How often do we consent to, or keep an agreement that isn’t in alignment anymore, that is fundamentally untrue, because it offers safety and security? Whether that be a relationship, or job, or belief system?

It isn’t necessarily important to make sudden choices around what we discover, but rather to be in inquiry around the question. Feel into how it can often take more of our energy, our life force, to continue with something untrue in exchange for safety.

For the most part, we don’t pull the rug out from underneath ourselves, to ultimately end up in a more aligned place when safety is involved. It often takes an act of courage. However, the more comfortable we are within our root chakra, the better equipped we are to initiate these big shifts that result in more alignment.

The paradox we are working with at the root chakra is “grounding into groundlessness”. Can we do that? What is our capacity in this area? How do we respond to having the floor fall out beneath us? How do we meet the gate to the underworld? Do we accept the invitation to free fall, or throw our hands and legs out to the sides, and grip onto our structures of safety for dear life.

In essence, the we more embody the “Feminine Principle”, the more comfortable we are with Chaos, Darkness, and Sudden Rupture. To things being “out of our control”.

The “Inside Degrees” for this month’s Gateway is extremely insightful around our inquiry.

CANCER 11

Monstrosities in glass jars at a side show.

“Plagued by glitches. Stuck in anomalies. You feel atavistically caught in very strange old places that will not budge for anything. Self-doubt, self-negation, self-sabotage. Excruciatingly self-conscious. The glare of the spotlight falls upon chronic unconscious syndromes. Places where hiding in massive dysfunction seems to be the only security and safety. The unwitting subtle fostering of clusters of negativity and confusion. Perpetuating the problem by doggedly refusing to see it for what it is. The extravagant pretense that all of this is a joke, or something gross and trivial. Yet in the end being stopped by little shadow dwellers just becomes too painful for you to rationalize any further. And the freakish syndromes you tried so hard to pawn off on everything else come back home to be uprooted with deep, sober will.”

-Elias Lonsdale

Let’s take an example from the divination: If I use the negative self-cognition that I am unorganized, or lack the proper university degrees, and continue to feed that belief, I may use it to justify not moving into a field in which I want to work. It might hold me back from starting a business. It helps keep me stuck and small. But it also keeps me SAFE!!! It keeps me from taking a risk that may result in more satisfaction and fulfillment, but could also precipitate loss and failure. We can apply this model to almost any form of self cognition, or belief. For instance, we often stay in relationships past their expiry date because they afford a degree of safety.

I don’t mean to suggest that safety isn’t extremely valuable when it is aligned with what is true. What we want to do at this gate is to expand our capacity to be inside of both a planned and unplanned dismantling of safety structures.

This year, I chose “Deep Anchored Trust” as the frequency I wanted to dance with. I am so glad I did. Because the biggest uprooting of my life happened in June, in the Solar Plexus Gateway. Trust has been my lifeline inside the labyrinth that has become my home. Each breath requires that I trust the unfolding of life. If I hadn’t expanded my capacity to trust, I’m not sure I’d still be here. But it is a practice. A practice that has become medicine, a throughline in the dark. And I propose it is always that way in the groundless places.

What does grounding in groundlessness mean?

It means that we are able to find “home” within our own cells, within our own heart knowing. That when all else is being stripped away, we trust that process. We are able to meet what is real with presence, without a whole lot of resistance. Without needing it to be different. It’s a kind of acceptance. Not acquiescence, not even approval per se. But an acknowledgement of what is true, and real.

*Next month, we are entering the underworld making this our final preparation. Venus will disappear from the sky on the far side of the Sun. Her influence will be difficult to access. So please take time to engage thoughtfully and responsibly with this month’s themes.

Inanna went to the underworld willingly. There is a whole bunch of information on Inanna’s (Venus) Journey on my website housed in the portal. And on our Facebook Page. Link in the comments.