This is a brief summary of the original 6000+ word quantitative report titled “3000 Years of Venus-Mars Conjunctions by Sign and Degree – An astrological data set” prepared by Sandra Hill – Sky Unfolding.

The study included the collection and an overview of quantitative data on Venus-Mars conjunctions by sign and degree for the time period between 500 BC and 2500 AD.

The data was reviewed by sign, degree per sign (and as an aggregate of all signs along a degree scale of 0-30 degrees), by element, as well as offering a look into conjunctions by Venus motion (direct, RX and Station). For more details about collection/data sources and aims of this study please refer to the end of this page.

2431 Venus-Mars conjunctions will have occurred in the 3000 years between 500BC and 2500 AD. That amounts to an average of one conjunction every 1.2 years.

Conjunctions by ruling planets and signs

Out of those 2431 conjunctions, significantly more are ruled* by the Luminaries (Cancer and Leo naturally corresponding to summer months of July and August) (20.9%), followed by Mercury. The fewest Venus-Mars conjunctions occur in Saturn (13.2%) and Jupiter (13.7%) ruled signs.

*Traditional rulership considered

The cluster of conjunctions on Cancer-Leo-Virgo corresponds to July, August and September. The fewest Venus-Mars conjunctions occur during Sagittarius through to Pisces season (November through to March)

Distribution by Element

There is a near-perfect distribution by element, with around 25% occurring within each one within the 3000-year study period.

Venus Motion at Conjunctions

• 83% Venus-Mars conjunctions occur with both planets direct
• Mars is naturally always direct during its conjunctions with Venus.
• 16% are with Venus in apparent retrograde motion
  • Venus RX is conjunct Mars every 8 years on average, though the range can be 6 -13 (or more) years apart. These conjunctions occur in all signs but are more prevalent in the first 6 signs of the zodiac.
  • 55% of conjunctions where Venus is RX occur in the first 6 signs or months of March through to September.
  • The last conjunction with Venus RX was in 2015, September 1^st at 14 LEO 55
  • The next one will take place in 2028, June 14^th at 4 GEM 39, following a gap of 13 years.
• 0.6% of them occur with Venus stationing* (*ST as defined in astro-seek data).
  • Between 500 BC and 2500 AD only 14 conjunctions will have occurred at Venus station.
  • The next time this happens will be Nov 11, 2034 with Venus stationary at 20 LIB 27
  • The last time this occurred is Feb 3 1755 at 16 CAP 27 – close to the degree of the impending Feb 16 2022 conjunction at 16 CAP 53.
  • The highest comparative number of conjunctions that occurred during a Venus station happened in Capricorn (3/14) and 2 each in Taurus, Libra and Aquarius. This means that a third of signs (total of 4 Venus and Saturn ruled signs) receive 64.3% of all conjunctions during Venus station.
  • The conjunctions with Venus ST occur at irregular intervals with gaps of decades to 100s of years.
    • The longest gap by far between two such conjunctions is 630 years (between 1125 and 1755).
  • Years 1080 and 1081 saw 2 Ven-Mar conjunctions with Venus at station, only 1.5 years apart.
    • The first one occurred Jun 7th 1080 at 17 TAU 32. It was followed by another one on Dec 1st 1081, with Venus stationing at 8 CAP 38.
    • A conjunction featuring Venus stationary occurred 342 years prior to the 1080 event.

Conjunction Degrees

Each of the 30 degrees (of all signs aggregated) receives around 58-99 Ven-Mar conjunctions on average. That is just over 80 conjunctions per degree on average. In other words Ven-Mar conjunctions are distributed at around 3% per degree (in the time span under study).

• When looking at an aggregated degree-set for all signs on a scale from 0-30 degrees, degree 1 (between 1-2) and 8 (8-9) are particularly active in terms of Venus-Mars conjunctions In the 3000 year span under study at a total of 99 conjunctions on each.
• Signs of Cancer, Leo, Libra and Aquarius have a notable number of Ven-Mar conjunctions on degree 1-2. The degree is particularly underrepresented in Virgo. Overall this degree gets 4-18 conjunctions per sign.
• There are between 5 and 12 conjunctions on the 8th (8-9) degree of any sign.
• Degrees 11 (10-11) and 26 (25-26) are somewhat underactive compared to the rest, receiving only 2% of conjunctions.

Data tables with number of conjunctions per degree of each sign (and as an aggregate of all signs) are included in the full report.

N.b. The uneven distribution of Venus-Mars conjunctions across degree spans of each separate sign may be attributed to the natural trajectories of planets or a limited data set of only 3000 years, comparative to the length of life of the Universe. Nonetheless, it may be interesting to explore natal or mundane charts for possible astrological implications of the conjunctions occurring along these (relatively) active and underactive degree-spans in particular. It also may be worth examining other astrological implications, such as fixed star locations in relation to some of these degrees.

Current Cycle

We are currently inside a 7-year zone of Saturn-ruled Venus-Mars conjunctions between 2022 and 2029, with 4 occurring in Capricorn and 2 in Aquarius. The next time they will cluster in these two signs will be in 2054-2059, 25 years from the last one in 2029.

Several astrologers including Alexander Ruperti, Robert Blaschke, Michele Finey and Gary P. Caton have explored these Venus-Mars cycles in more depth.

The full report offers a broader overview of earlier work, references and further reading on Venus-Mars conjunctions and their synodic cycles.

A brief summary of some of the proposed cycle definitions by astrologers is outlined below.

Current cycle and series as defined by Finey

According to Finey’s observations, the currently starting cycle is the fourth new retrograde cycle in the current group series.

• Finey considers a cycle to have commenced when Venus forms the first RX conjunction
• In her book, The Sacred Dance of Venus and Mars, Finey ties the current cycle (19R) to the (49R) cycle commencing 287 years later on 19^th September 2309 at 28 LIB 34 .
• The span between 19R and 49R, as defined by Finey, will see 236 Venus-Mars conjunctions
• In terms of sign distribution, it features fewest conjunctions in Aries (4.7%) and Pisces (6.4%) and clustering between Cancer and Libra. This means that in this cycle we have 1/3 of signs containing over 50% of all conjunctions, ruled by the Luminaries, Mercury and Venus itself.

It is noted that the current cycle starting February 16th 2022 in Capricorn will in fact begin shortly after Venus has already turned direct.

The current cycle as defined by Caton

Caton identifies the middle conjunction (of three within 9 months) as defining a new 6-7 year cycle (whether Venus is retrograde or direct), because it features the slower planet (Mars) passing the faster planet (Venus), thus creating an alchemical combination of fixed and volatile.

by Gary P Caton (graphic used with permission)

Caton also demonstrates this cycle by following the visual apparition of Venus through its morning to evening appearance over the 5 conjunction series. Thus, the middle conjunction (of three within 9 months) is seen to set the tone for a new 6-7 year cycle, by sign and house.

You can listen in on Gary’s observations here: EP Podcast – Venus / Mars Conjunction Cycle w/ Gary P Caton

Report prepared by Sandra Hill for Sky Unfolding Astrology, February 11^th 2022

About this report

“VenMar” study included the collection and examination of quantitative data on Venus-Mars conjunctions by sign and degree for the time period between 500 BC and 2500 AD.

The data was reviewed by sign, degree per sign (and as an aggregate of all signs along a degree scale of 0-30 degrees), by element, as well as offering a look into conjunctions by Venus motion (direct, RX and Station).

The researcher used open-source databases and tools by astro-seek and astrodienst to collect the data and has relied on the accuracy of the data on these sites.

The report may serve as a reference guide for a wider perspective on and grasp of astrological themes that may arise in Venus-Mars conjunction activated signs and degrees and their conjunction cycles in general. It is meant to complement the existing literature by offering a quantitative overview. The researcher’s ultimate aim is to facilitate further study by offering a comprehensive overview of Venus-Mars conjunctions and highlighting existing studies on the topic.

This summary is extracted from the active version of the report – V1 dated 11^th February 2022.

For any questions about this summary paper or to enquire about the full report please contact the author directly citing “VenMar” in the subject line.

About the author

Sandra Hill is a professional researcher and writer. She has devoted the last 10 years to the study of Western astrology.

Blog: www.skyunfolding.com

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