Venus Occultation Of The Sun 2012

The Occultation of Venus on 5th June 2012 heralds a pivotal moment in the communication industry, particularly the unstoppable rise in electronic books and the death of print newspapers. It also heralds a pivotal moment in the travel industry; but more of that later.


So why deduce that the occultation of Venus relates to communication and travel? Normally anything to do with either of these would be more akin to Mercury. The answer is where the Venus occultation always takes place, in either Gemini or Sagittarius, which are the signs that resonate with the 3rd / 9th house axis.

The Venus occultation takes place in pairs, around 7 or 8 years apart, approximately every 121 years.

The way we see the delivery of information is undergoing a rapid change, particularly in the case of the phone hacking scandal currently being investigated in the UK under the Leveson Inquiry. In the meantime, whilst Mr Murdoch, of the company ‘News International’, confirmed in his witness testimony to the very real demise of print newspapers, there are reports elsewhere of an ever increasing trend towards the purchase of electronic books. This is in many ways a completely foreseeable prediction, at least in the notion that from the birth of electronic books there was an intention by Time Warner, Amazon and Microsoft, announced around the year 2000, to make it a successful and competitive industry by 2020.

This means that the demise of the newspaper may be considered loosely as relevant to the Venus occultation because the timing in and around the introduction and rise of electronic books and the decline of print newspapers envelopes the dates of the two occultation events of 2004 and 2012. But is it really big enough to warrant association with an event that occurs only every 121 or so years?

Some of the historical events that can be considered as subject matter relating to the Venus occultation and occurred close enough in tolerance to the time of the Venus occultation are well documented in Venus Transit by Anders Bjarstedt and Carl Johan Calleman Susan Custer’s Transit of Venus 2004. In terms of tolerance, I believe it is perfectly reasonable to include the time from the Venus Hesperus opposition to the great conjunction. The articles mentioned offer different perspectives of what may happen with the current 2004 – 2012 occultation, however, I believe that some relevant historical events have been overlooked, which if we include them here, makes sense to the indicators of real events happening just before the occultation of 2012.

In order to make sense of current events, it is important to view them in the light of the events that occurred under previous Venus occultation events; the premise being that such a rare event must surely produce an event equally as rare in the history of the human race that is global in its impact.

1519 – 1526

In 1519 Ferdinand Megellan set out to sail around the world. The first time communication with other countries would become perceived as a round earth and not a flat one. The perceptual shift in people’s values would have been tremendous. While Megellan himself did not complete the voyage (he was killed on an island in the Philippines in 1521), some of his crew completed the journey by 1522.

1631 – 1639

The Danish mail service began 1624, Sweden 1636 and in May 1631 the first French Newspaper was founded. The above is cited by others as being synonymous with the Venus occultation. However, I believe the timings of these events are way out of tolerance. Instead, I believe that the publication of Galileo’s “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” is much more relevant. Would it seem too much of a coincidence to have evidence in the previous Venus occultation that the world was round, and then to have it proved that the world went around the sun? Once again our value systems are challenged and our awareness reprogrammed.

One must not forget in all this that the emphasis is placed on the printed word. The ability to read was becoming essential to many but its popularity would be fomented by availability and cost. So the first printing press in 1639, set up in Massachusetts, made available the one powerful medium outside of public speaking that was capable of altering the perceptions and understanding of the masses.

1761 - 1769

Astronomers, 120 of them, unite around the world in an attempt to measure the distance between the sun and the earth in June 1761. Where Galileo was arrest for heresy for stating that the earth travelled around the sun, observers were able to predict the next occultation and observe it. A second attempt was made by Captain James Cook, who sailed to Tahiti to observe the Venus transit.

Science was advancing beyond in other areas too. An important event in 1769 was when James Watt was granted a patent for improvements to his steam engine that became the catalyst to starting the industrial revolution and the popularity of travel by train. Such advances made it possible for people to reach greater distances in shorter times, while at the same time expanding the opportunity for knowledge to be shared.

1874 - 1881

The invention of the telephone by Alexander Bell in 1874 was in its infancy but the race to patent it in 1875 demonstrates that the idea existed in more than one place in the world. The communications revolution that emanated from this invention was phenomenal.

Likewise, in 1875, George R Carey of Boston, Massachusetts, outlined the earliest system relating to what we know in the 21st century as film and television, proposing the use of selenium as a means for transmitting photoelectric images.

Bell and Thomas Edison formed the Oriental Telephone Company in 1881 just a few months before the second transit of Venus. However, Edison was forming many companies throughout 1881 in connection with the electric light, which changed the world of communication in many ways and light has proved to be just as valid in terms of communication in the twenty first century via fibre optic cables.

2004 – 2012

In June 2004 ‘SpaceShipOne’ became the first private manned spaceflight. Mojave Air and Space Port was licensed as the first commercial space port. This is the only reported connection that fits the profile in relation to previous Venus occultation events. The world of travel is a theme that fits, starting from going around the world in person, circling the Sun, plotting the distance to see how far the Earth travels, travel by train, travel by sound and by light and travel by image.

The Venus occultation occurs in the sign of either Gemini or Sagittarius. Both houses are connected by axis to communication and travel. In essence they provide the mediums by which people connect to each other, be that through the written word or on an aeroplane. Venus reflects the values we place on our lives, our environment in relation to our sense and the things we appear to possess. And as the Venus occultation occurs in no other sign, one may infer that our perceptions of how we connect and interact with our world and with others is of particular importance, because the more we come into contact with people and places, the greater is the opportunity for knowledge.

In 2012, at the time of writing this article and about four weeks from the Venus transit, it was announced that plans were being made to mine asteroids in space. Whilst the commercial aspects fit into the thread of all the above pioneering work, the most relevant aspect of this venture is the formulation of turning water in outer space to liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to use as fuel, thus pioneering the next stage in much longer distance space flights. At first the company plans to use robots for mining (travel by robot?) but it will not be long before humans are needed to enter space for commercial reasons, and what is currently way beyond the reach of everyday humans may have the potential to become part of some people’s everyday work. Therefore it is not unreasonable to consider our solar system as the next region of travel will be the next step in the scientific advancement of the human race.

The next Venus occultation occurs in 2133. Perhaps the prospect of interstellar travel may become possible. Or is it likely that we will see the beginning of communication through mind alone? In either case it seems certain that science will be the driving force behind whatever new advance we make. But curiously, it also appears that Venus occultation turns up particularly at the time we make important scientific advances in the field of communication and travel. Unfortunately it will be 121 years before we can observe what turns up at the next Venus occultation, but I am confident that if I am right about mining in space, it will be an event that becomes a reality within 50 years of 2012.