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Exploring the Alchemy of Venus & Mars in the Capricorn Underworld

Mars and Venus exited our skies in mid and late November, respectively. We will not see either of them for months. For dedicated stargazers, this is a profound loss.

In the 90’s astrologer Daniel Giamario discovered a mythic way of framing the disappearance of Venus via the journey of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven -into the UnderWorld. Since 2007 I’ve been following the visual journey of Venus myself, and sharing this way of working with others.

Venus will be gone all of December, January and February. And its pretty much the same story with Mars. In my last post about Mercury’s retrogrades in Water signs, I shared with you also two Greek myths of UnderWorld journeys and the contrasting male and female experiences.

Babylonians also had a myth for Mars going into the UnderWorld. Nergal (Mars) snubs the goddess of the UnderWorld, Erishkegal, and is sent to the UnderWorld to apologize. But instead he seizes her and tries to take her power. He ends up having to make a deal and share, which is kind of how all these stories end -making a deal with the Devil.

Given this remarkable consistency of deal-making in mythology, we may find ourselves feeling or maybe even being forced to make some kind of deal in order to exit an intolerable situation. So let’s look at some real-life stories and consult some sacred maps that might be helpful.

Going around the outside of the Venus star tells us that the UnderWorld (superior) conjunction with the Sun going clockwise from Pisces is in Capricorn. This cycle repeats every 8 years, and every 4 of these 8 year repeats (32 years), She is joined by Mars. So the last Capricorn UnderWorld conjunction of Venus and Mars was in 1994.

The most significant experience of that year for me was the death of Kurt Cobain. It’s one of those events that frames things for lots of people. However, it wasn’t only Kurt that died. We also had the Death of Grunge.

Being a marriage of opposites, Punk and Heavy Metal, -Grunge itself had a kind of Venus-Mars flavor. The Punk ethos in particular made it very hard for some artists to accept the enormous success that came their way, because they were very strongly anti-establishment. So the successful ones felt like they had “sold out to the man.” Tom Morello was talking about this recently on Billy Corgan’s podcast, The Magnificent Others.

“Selling out to the man” is very much a kind of “making a deal with the Devil” story and experience. At the height of their fame and success, these artists were also miserable, due to inner conflicts over wondering at what cost to their Soul did this success come?

Capricorn is associated with the Devil card and is basically an inversion of the Lovers card. And these two signs, Gemini and Capricorn are inverse to one another across the Equinoctial axis. The young lovers, once enamored with their art, are fated to find themselves inverted and disillusioned.

So how exactly do we exit the UnderWorld according to the Tarot? Via Mars and the Tower -the casting out of false authority.

This chapter of the Tarot has a very clear and striking Alchemical parallel. The Nigredo of the Devil is followed by a blinding flash of light (Albedo) in the Tower, and a gradual Rubedo (reddening/embodiment) in the Star.

Rather than a one-off event, this Venus-Mars is a slowly unfolding story. The Sun is at the mid-point (within one degree) of this pair for over 4 months! From the time they disappear in November (Nigredo), through their conjunction in January (Albedo), until they re-appear in March (Rubedo).

“Understand that our work is hidden in the darkness.
In the blackness the seed is prepared;
in the blackness the secret fire begins its work.
None may attain the red
-unless he has suffered the black
and passed through the white.”

Rosarium Philosophorum, 1550

Classical Stages of Alchemy & Transformation:

This sequence—black → white → red—is the core progression in many alchemical treatises, representing not just material transmutation but profound psychological and spiritual transformation: death of the old self, purification, and rebirth into wholeness.

Nigredo – November 2025 to January 2026

Venus and Mars vanish under the Sun’s beams → the sky loses its lovers.

“When you see your matter going black, rejoice: for that is the beginning of the work.”

Context: This encourages embracing the “dark night of the soul,” where opposites merge in shadow

Psychologically: A forced retreat. Desire (Venus) and drive (Mars) go “underground.” Relationships feel flat or confusing, sex drive drops, motivation scatters, anger turns inward. Everything that felt alive now seems dead or pointless. This is the blackening: old patterns of relating, creating, and asserting the self rot in the dark. Many will experience loss, break-ups, creative blocks, or a haunting sense “I don’t know who I am when I’m not chasing/wanting/fighting.”

How to work it: Stop pushing. Enter the tomb willingly. Journal the rage and grief. Sit in meditation with the question “What must die in me?” Let depression or celibacy do its fermenting work. The seed is being prepared in the blackness. Do not run from the black — name it, feel it, compost it.

Albedo – January to late February 2026

Exact Venus-Mars cazimi (Jan 6-9) inside the Sun’s heart → the rebirth.

“Here the dew falleth from heaven, / And washeth the black body in the sepulchre.”

Psychologically: Sudden illumination after the void. A pure, washed clarity arrives. You see the former relationship or desire with lunar detachment. Shame and blame dissolve in “celestial dew.” New values crystallize (Venus reborn); new courage emerges (Mars reborn). Many report spiritual awakenings, lucid dreams, or meeting a person who feels like “soul recognition.” The ego is still tender — this is the white stone, not yet the red.

How to work it: Bathe, literally and ritually. Practice mirroring exercises with partners or friends. Brainstorm and sketch or write the new story of who you are becoming. Gentle yoga, sound healing, moon rituals. Receive, do not grasp. Let the purified seed shine before you force it into action.

Rubedo – March to mid-April 2026

Venus and Mars rise again → the red king and queen ascend, crowned.

Psychologically: Integration on fire. Desire and will are no longer at war — they create in harmony. Relationships that survived the black either end with dignity or ignite with mature passion. Creative projects burst into form. You feel unmistakably alive, sexual, courageous, generous. The inner marriage is consummated; you walk as your own sovereign.

How to work it: Act boldly on the new desires. Initiate the art, the business, the love affair. Wear red, make love under the dawn or dusk sky, dance, celebrate. Offer the fruits of your transformation to the collective. The Philosopher’s Stone is not kept — it is given. This is the stage where personal alchemy becomes cultural medicine.