The Morning Star
I watched the Morning Star this morning. It was so bright. A herald to a new day. The morning star is said to pull the sun up over the horizon. While the sun rises, the Morning Star sets. Every day. That which has been a lesser light in the darkness, in the abyss, in the oblivion of night, surrenders itself to the greater light of day. Every day. One could say it anticipates, announces, prepares the way. Where have we heard that before. A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way.
The morning star has also been called Lucifer. Yes, you read that right. In its etymology, in Latin, Lucifer means light bringer. As you know all too well, it also means the devil. How could that be so? Do we need darkness, the fall, the fallen to show us the way? Yes! It is in the fall that the greater light is made known. If we are awake. If we have eyes to see. If we have courage. If we can surrender to the dawn.
The morning star is also called Venus. Now, get ready for a mind bend. What in heavens name, or what in hell links Venus and the Devil? Maybe it is the mourning star rather than the morning star? Stay with me. Venus is the Roman Goddess of Beauty. A derivative from the Greek, Aphrodite. She is born from the severed genitals of Uranus when his son, Cronus castrates him and fertilizes the sea. In a beautiful rendering, Sandro Botticelli, the Florentine artist shows The Birth of Venus. Looking into the canvas, we view her as rising from the sea carried on a scallop shell. Incredibly beautiful.
Uranus, one of the old gods, one of the first gods born of Chaos, refuses to release his children. Swollen and uncomfortable with denied birth, Gaia conspires with her first offspring and Heaven and Earth are defined, separated, differentiated. Some would say, with Cronus and his act of patricide, Time is born. Evolution is released. Chaos is given structure, and meaning is made manifest. Heaven and Earth, above and below, spirit and matter are defined. Read, chronology: the arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence. In most iconography, Cronus is depicted holding the sickle and is later known as the Roman God, Saturn. He looks very much like the Grim Reaper. What does this all have to do with the morning star? With Venus? With the devil? Take another sip of your morning coffee and fasten your seatbelt.
The most important and liveliest festival in the ancient world was known as Saturnalia, and yes, it is dedicated to the Roman God, Saturn, and hints back to his Greek counterpart, Cronus. Saturnalia evolved into many of our contemporary Christmas festivities. During ancient Saturnalia, all work and business were suspended. Slaves were given temporary freedom to say and do what they liked, and certain moral restrictions were eased. The streets were infected with a Mardi Gras madness; a mock king was chosen (Saturnalicius princeps); and the seasonal greeting to Saturnalia was heard everywhere. During this feast of the unconquerable sun, the old year wound down, squeezed out its ghosts, released the skeltons from the closet, before the new year was birthed.
When birth is denied, when what is ripe is not harvested, when evolution is halted, chaos rises up from the abyss and threatens to overtake and overwhelm. We either evolve or devolve. The ancients knew this. Every year during Saturnalia, chaos was given a seat at the table. Appeased? Fed? Made known? This was a prerequisite for the fresh start of a new year, a new season, a new day. Luciferian impulses must have their moment if consciousness is to evolve and move a fraction closer to dawn. The morning star is surely more beautiful and bright and arresting because of the contrast to inky black darkness. Venus on the horizon, Venus as the herald, Venus as Beauty Herself conquers the vulgarity and dissolution of chaos. She is creation born from chaos. And, she yokes Herself to the unconquerable Sun, the redemptive Son, and release love and light into the world. Every day. Every season. Every year.
So, dear ones, in this time of Saturnalia, make a seat at the table of your heart for all that has been denied, avoided, disparaged. Set the slaves free and let them speak without censure. Chase the ghosts and monsters from the closets and corners. Loosen the moral restrictions of your true nature and eat the carbs or refill the wine glass. And with evolving and growing consciousness, crown the Saturnalicius princeps so a new day can dawn. Look to Venus, Lucifer, the morning star, and in it all, seek Beauty and Truth.
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats, Ode of a Grecian Urn