The Catastrophic Conjunction of Venus and Mars, By Ev Cochrane
The Catastrophic Conjunction of Venus and Mars
“Mythology, like the severed head of Orpheus, goes on singing even in death and from afar.”
In the pages to follow we will attempt to shed some light on the celebrated love affair between Mars and Venus. Far from being an old wives’ tale lampooning the differences between the respective sexes, the “marriage” of the two planets signaled nothing less than Creation itself.
Why should anyone care about ancient traditions recounting the sexual escapades between Venus and Mars? Ancient myth represents, as it were, a narrative or mnemonic “fossil” reflecting the intellectual history of mankind. For untold millennia the narration and memorization of such stories remained the primary means of transmitting important information about the history of the world and the most treasured beliefs of early man. If we are to gain a better understanding of the origins of religion, philosophy, and natural science, it stands to reason that we would do well to study the content and message of ancient myth wherein such matters form an overriding concern.
Especially significant from the standpoint of modern science is the information encoded in ancient myth regarding the recent history of the solar system. Indeed, it is our contention that the eyewitness testimony of ancient man — as recorded in sacred traditions and rock art the world over — offers a surprisingly detailed and trustworthy guide for reconstructing that history.
Starf*cker is an exercise in mythological exegesis and, as such, builds upon and extends our previous findings. The first volume in this series of monographs investigating the fascinating and multifaceted mythology surrounding the various planets — Martian Metamorphoses — offered an overview of Mars’ role in ancient myth and religion. There it was documented that the red planet was typically represented as a raging war-god and as the greatest of heroes — as the quintessential masculine power. Archetypal examples of the Martian warrior-hero include the Greek Heracles, Sumerian Nergal, Vedic Indra, and Celtic Cuchulainn, amongst countless others.
The companion volume — The Many Faces of Venus — presented a comparative analysis of the sacred traditions surrounding Earth’s so-called twin. In contrast to Mars, Venus was conceptualized as the prototypical female power. In fact, Venus was often represented as the red planet’s paramour or consort. Familiar examples of the Venus-goddess include the Sumerian Inanna, Semitic Ishtar, and Greek Aphrodite but analogous figures will be found within virtually every culture.
The general thesis underlying all three monographs can be summarized as follows: If the testimony of the ancient skywatchers is to be believed, the Earth was a participant in a series of recent interstellar cataclysms of a virtually unimaginable nature — cataclysms that were devastating in effect and traumatic in psychological impact. It can be shown, moreover, that such catastrophes had a formative influence on the primary institutions of early cultures and thus their impact continues to be felt to this very day.
“Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces” (1824) by Jacques-Louis David