Venus and Jupiter - Bridging the Ideal and the Real

Erin Sullivan
Bringing to reality our dreams and fantasies of the ideal is not always easy nor even possible. Coming
to terms with this natural split in the human psyche is also difficult, but in this book, Erin Sullivan goes
deeply into the character, mythological origins and astrological relationship of the two planets most
closely associated with ideals, creativity, romance, ethics and social relationships.
In Venus we find the inherent duality of the experience, and this lies in the goddess Aphrodite's own
duality. In Jupiter she brings the larger, global perspective into the picture, showing how the sky-god
Zeus can act as a tyrannical component within our own psyche, and also, how his wisdom is the result
of internalizing the more feminine aspects of our archetypal story. Both sections have a delineation of
Venus and Jupiter to the other planets. Good for all levels of knowledge from beginner to professional
in astrology.
Review by Robin Heath - Astrological Journal 1998
This is a wonderful book and holds together extremely well. It's origins, like the other titles in the CPA
armoury, stem from CPA seminar sessions held at Regent's College. London. The Venus material (Part
One: Venus Aphrodite - Dual Goddess) - was delivered on 27th February 1994, whilst the Jupiter
session (Part Two: The Justice of Zeus and the Astrological Jupiter)took place on 13th June 1993. If the
title of this latest CPA press offering suggests a saccharin and sickly look at the two great benefics, then
the reader is due for a huge and pleasant surprise.
Erin Sullivan is one of our foremost astrologers, a woman of real depth and decades of experience as a
practising astrologer. Although she is often jaunty and humorous in her approach, she always has
access to a great depth of astrological wisdom and an often astonishing insight. She delivered a punchy
and well received Charles Carter Memorial Lecture at the 1997 AA Conference together with workshop
sessions. At this same conference one could pick up a background opinion of the view that
psychological astrology had 'peaked' and now it was time to get back to the traditional astrology - the
material of Messrs Zoller, Hand and company. Erin's book shows this viewpoint to be entirely myopic,
showing that the two are irrevocably linked and always have been; beginning her treatment of these
two planets with one of the best presentations of their ancient mythic pedigrees I have yet had the
pleasure to read. For those astrologers who think the mythic material boring or irrelevant to astrology, I
strongly commend this short, punchy treatment by Erin Sullivan. It grounds the history of astrology
from its mythic roots of ancient Babylon, calling at all stations west via Troy and Greece.
Venus and Jupiter are the largest visible objects in the sky, after the two luminaries, and, surprisingly,
they have never been paired in quite the way Erin treats their astrology. More normally, Mars and
Venus are wheeled out as the 'sexy' duad whilst Jupiter gets a rather dull blind date with Saturn. Erin
begins with the 'monomyth' of Venus and immediately connects her readers with the magic of astrology
in enabling a student to "become privy to information that is not readily available through any other
medium". So, right on page two, we are made aware of astrology's value as a tool to understanding
human mythology, philosophy and the roots of culture. The author takes us through a journey of
exploration with Venus's history - Chaos, Eros, Gaia, Ouranos, Aphrodite Urania and Aphrodite
Pandemos. Erin equates this route as taking humans from the ideal to the specific; making valuable
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connections with the whole misunderstood process of creativity. Dotted within we get the nuggets of
audience participation, where their providing of context information acts as the perfect foil for Erin's
experience of how the astrological symbols behave in mundane lives.
And so this book begins its main thrust, involving the reader in a true educational process which is also
fun. Erin's humour bursts out regularly in interactions with her audience, and this movbes the book
along nicely and presents the heavy clogging 'religious' quality of many astrological texts. This
reviewer found the treatment enchanting at times.
Venus does have something to do with our relationships, of course, and Erin takes this directly from the
dual symbols of love as both healing and destructive. Erotic madness, erotomania and the direct
consequences of possession by Eros are brought right within the modern stage as Erin looks at the
manifestation of 'stalking' and the manner we deal with 'possession' by 'the other' with all its risks,
dangers and sublime possibilities. A section on Love and Strife takes the reader right into the
primordial scission and the big polarities of Heaven and Earth, Spirit and Matter. The modern portrayal
of Eros as the wimpy anorak Cupid is used to demonstrate how far our modern culture is divorced from
the depth inherent in Venus as a symbol.
From page 70 to page 125, planetary aspects to Venus are covered in depth. The astrological meat in
the sandwich is generous and, once again, the audience's rapport with the author makes for solid
examples and remarkable insights. No cook-book listing can ever embrace the depth found here and
this reviewer wouldn't change a single word of Erin's account of Uranus-Venus as an aspect - having
lived it out for half a century.
Page 128 begins a look at Jupiter - the Great Benefic. Erin presents a soul-bearing aperatif by way of
introduction to Jupiter/9th house issues. She then cites 500 BC as the time when the separation of
nature and culture led to our present world and the need for the gods to change form, from which she
sees conscience and moral order becoming linked to Zeus and Jupiter, the 'moral arbiter'. She
effectively mops up any confusion between shame and guilt during this run up to a potted history of
Frued, Jung and the myriad souls who have contributed to our understanding of social and personal
morality through myth.
Now the reader is entreated to an insightful look at the Zeus/Jupiter myths. The dionysian side of
Jupiter is wheeled out via a shamanistic look at altered consciousness and transcendence. The moral
hypocrisy angle is vividly pportrayed with examples of US presidents (surely not?), then Erin deals
with the travelling and exploring side, followed by Jupiter as saviour with the examples, Jim Jones,
David Koresh and David Icke. It would have been nice to have included the charts (or at least footnoted
the birth-data) along the way here in order to allow readers to weigh Jupiter against other factors.
The aspects of Jupiter to other planets on the natal chart completes this major work. Again, I wouldn't
change a word of Erin's account of Jupiter-Mars or Jupiter-Uranus, aspects strong on my own natal
chart, and each of these fifty pages contains material of considerable worth.
The older texts on Venus and Jupiter often treat their combination as an excessive, sickly affair. Such a
judgement cannot be placed on Erin's latest feast, which has to be essential reading for any serious
student of astrology. This reviewer hasn't had so much fun with an astrology book, nor gleaned so
much for many a year.
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 Copyright 1998 The Astrological Association of Great Britain

Review by Mary Plumb - The Mountain Astrologer 1998
During her early mid-life years Erin Sullivan immersed herself in a study of classical myth, revivifying
her thinking and her gifts to astrology. In this book she describes how her study was inspired by
parallels she recognized between 5th century BCE Athens and our own time: "The culture at that time
was separating so acutely from the gods of the times, and was so stressful, that there was then, as there
is now, a renewed interest in the mythological past." If you have relegated The Iliad or Virgil to some
frozen pocket of your high school brain, treat yourself to Erin's ideas on the ancient tales of Zeus and
Aphrodite (the Greek names that became Venus and Jupiter to the Romans). The book is transcribed
from two seminars - Venus Aphrodite: The Dual Goddess and The Justice of Zeus and the Astrological
Jupiter - and she explores and brings back jewels of interpretation and relevance to the astrological
glyphs.
A theme that also weaves throughout the present work is Erin's interest in the way we think and the
kinds of concerns that occupy our minds. Since the classical mind has formed the back bone of Western
thinking, her understanding of the period allows her to capture the dichotomies and duality's inherent in
Western thought. She appreciates the necessity for "splitting" and has a question about contemporary
ideas of "wholeness and