Venus in Virgo: The Garden of the Hesperides

From October 8th until November 8th, Venus will be in Virgo, the sign of her fall. She’ll also be in charge of this month’s eclipses. It’s worth getting to know her a little better.

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides, nymphs of the sunset & daughters of Night, were charged with tending a special garden located at the Western end of the world.

This garden belonged to the Goddess Hera, and in it grew a tree that bore gleaming golden apples, a wedding gift to Hera from Gaia/Mother Earth. These apples were the source of each golden sunset and bestowed immortality on anyone who ate them.

However, Hera didn’t fully trust the Hesperides, who liked to steal an apple or two once in a while, and installed the watchful serpent-like dragon Ladon, whose sinuous body twisted & turned around the tree, to further safeguard the precious apples — a powerful symbol echoed across many religions & occult traditions.

Together, the apple tree & the serpent represent the part of the collective human psyche that seeks knowledge & transformation, as well as the ancient circuit of temptation & guardianship over these mysteries.

The Garden of the Hesperides, Edward Burne-Jones, 1869

I’ve been thinking of this Garden quite a bit lately, and especially of its guardian nymphs, who were most likely hamadryads, the living spirits of the tree that bore the golden apples of immortality (or knowledge). Daughters of Night, restrained from full use of their own tree, their own self. Goddesses of the sunset and the golden apples: emblems of that knowledge the Sun’s illumination can’t reach.   

The Garden of the Hesperides, Frederic Leighton, 1892

I feel the Hesperides are a powerful representation of Venus in Virgo…which is a Fallen Venus.

A planet is in Fall in only one sign of the zodiac.

It is said that the qualities of this one particular sign create the most challenges for that planet as it tries to express its energies. In the case of Virgo Venus, that sign’s overly mental nature impedes the creation of relationships & art by being too picky, critical, practical, and relying on the mind over the wisdom of the heart.

I can’t help but connect all of that to THE Fall, especially since ancient astrologers likened fallen planets to exiles unable to breach the city gates. And let’s not forget that the Garden of Eden, the obvious counterpart to the Garden of the Hesperides, also housed two famous exiles.

And that’s the face of Venus shining down upon us now.

That’s who’s in charge of our earthly desires, romances, pleasures & friendships, and the creation of beauty & art. An exiled Venus, a technically “weak” Venus, but I beg to differ. I’ve come to believe fallen planets contain the special mysteries & abilities the other signs couldn’t be trusted with, otherwise why would they be barred from accessing their inherent power without the lessons gleaned from enduring endless trials & tribulations?

The Apples of the Hesperides, Andrey Remnev, 2007 (obsessed)

Just like the Hesperides, exiled to the Western end of the world and the true spirits of the tree that bears the golden apples, Virgo Venus has all the knowledge she needs — she is the guardian of the tree — she just can’t easily access its fruit because someone else has claimed ownership over her.

And the serpent.

Serpents are symbols of transformation & renewal; of creativity & life force.

In the Garden of the Hesperides, the serpent is the impediment towards accessing the fruits of the tree, but in the Garden of Eden it’s the source of temptation. It’s the lure.

During this short time that Venus tours through the sign of Virgo, try to think about the serpent that guards your tree. Is it an impediment, or a lure?

Oh, and what is your tree? What powers do its magical apples hold?

And what’s stopping you from accessing them?

[The Hesperides were also featured in another famous myth: the Golden Apple of Discord that triggered the events of the Trojan War was surreptitiously apple plucked from that magical tree by Eris, goddess of strife, who inscribed it with the words “to the fairest” before spitefully tossing it amongst the other goddesses gathered at a wedding she wasn’t invited to. Also, The serpent-dragon Ladon was eventually slain by Hercules in his Eleventh Labor, and it’s worth noting that much of that myth consists of Hercules seeking out the elusive Garden in which the golden apples grew.]