“Somebody said they saw me swinging the world by the tail.”
— Rowland Salley

Up in the sky things keep moving. Celestial cycles never stop. Nor do they ever exactly repeat. Fortunately, there never has been, and never will be, an end-all. Sometimes tragically, the same can be said for be-all. Something always follows. Often, you can play a part in determining what that something is.

If you have been up before dawn lately, you might have seen Venus shining for all it’s worth in the East. It’s so beautiful. It seems so right. You could not be blamed for wanting it to be there always — rising to illuminate the proverbial darkest hour.

Perhaps it is because Venus has been in Gemini since July 4. Gemini is where the ascending heliocentric node of Venus is located. It is therefore, as astrologer Phil Sedgwick puts it, the sign where the “mission statement” of Venus is defined.

If you are reading these words, you were alive (and probably quite aware) when the mission statement of Venus manifested as a visible event. In both 2004 and 2012, Venus, its node and the Sun all lined up perfectly in Gemini so that we could witness Venus transiting the face of the Sun.

Essentially, the Venus transits were eclipses. They were rare, irreplaceable and thrilling experiences that left any astrologer (or astronomer, for that matter) with passion for their work wanting more.

Then, things moved on. The world will not see another Venus transit until more than a century has passed. Among other things, however, the experience taught us how to detect planets transiting the face of distant stars. That is not chopped liver.

Yes, you and the rest of us were compelled to move on as well, but we were left with something more than just a memory. The Venus transits of this century gave us at least one gift that made it possible for us to do for ourselves what we were not capable of doing before.

Now, as Venus moves through the final few days of its 2017 tenure in Gemini, you would do well to remember that mission statements are only beginnings. No matter how inspiring it may be, a discovery of purpose is only a start. In the long run, what really counts is what follows.

After Venus enters Cancer on Monday, all the sign-rulers save the Moon will be set in the signs they will occupy during the upcoming lunar and solar eclipses.

The solar eclipse on Aug. 21, especially, has already inspired and excited the imaginations of millions. No doubt, the actual experience of viewing it will also be enthralling. But it will not be the end-all.

When the sky grows dark for a precious few minutes, a bigger picture will become apparent. Just west of the eclipsed Sun, Venus will appear — not to presage dawn, but as part of a continuum, a whole, a work in progress that you are here to be a part of.

But you can’t be a part of all that the Leo solar eclipse will reveal if you stay in one place after the Moon moves on to allow daylight once again. You can’t move with the universe if you cling to an experience rather than retain its lesson.

Whether you actually see the Great American Eclipse doesn’t really matter. What will matter is what you do after having been (along with the rest of our world) aligned with the Moon and Sun as part of it.

You can prepare yourself for the big event beginning this weekend. Watch, or at least remember, Venus. Should you become wistful, embrace the feeling, but don’t let it hold you back. You have things to do with the gifts these days will provide.

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