cdsmiller17

Catullus 85

I attempted to translate this poem while in high school. Not my greatest achievement, but I tried to get into the state of mind of Catullus to do it. It didn’t really work for me.

Now, all these years later, I’m beginning to get a glimpse into what that might feel like, but not personally. As an Astrologer, it came up in a recent chart, and I was surprised that I’d never noticed it before.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

I have decided to allow knowledge from a different channel to be shared here. This next description of Venus Conjunct Mars comes from astromatrix.org:

“Your relationship with your parents will determine your attitudes towards the opposite sex and marriage for better or worse. Normally, this gives a harmonious blending of active and passive energies and makes you sensitive and loving unless both planets are under severe stress. Drive is generally expressed constructively. This aspect is an asset when it comes to relating to the public and is said to give luck in financial matters. This conjunction can vary dramatically from sign to sign and tends to give you valuable insights into your earliest dealing with the opposite sex – including dealings with your opposite-sex parent, siblings, and peers. You have very strong emotions. Because of their intensity, you find it hard to treat relationships lightly; everything, even the smallest gesture, has importance to you. This is true in almost all relationships; it’s especially true when it comes to sex and romance. If there are problems in your love life, it could be because you’re being too pushy or coming on too strong. This aspect stimulates affections in a way that causes you to want an all-consuming, ‘forever’ type of relationship; but, funnily enough, it also gives flirtatious streak that continues even after you’ve entered into a satisfying relationship. I think that people with this aspect feel that it’s especially important to remain desirable – not just to a mate or lover, but to the opposite sex in general. As the conjunction is a uniting aspect, and Venus and Mars are the male and female principles, respectively, you might think, as I once did, that it’s a portent of a lasting marriage. From my studies, I’ve learned that this isn’t the case. While people with this aspect want a lasting relationship very badly, they suffer their fair share of squabbles and separations. There’s a difference between this aspect and the square and opposition though, in that there seems to be greater reluctance to make the first break. Jealousy – sometimes justified, sometimes not – on one side or another seems to be the primary cause of discord.”

Catullus may have had this exact aspect in his chart. Unfortunately, we do not know his exact date of birth (which is believed to be in 84 B.C.E. and that makes him a contemporary of Mark Antony.) Antony’s birth was in January 83 B.C.E. and his chart has a fairly wide conjunction between Venus and Mars, so my assumption might have some validity with respect to Catullus.

At any rate, Catullus was a man crucified by love. Or probably, and most likely, jealousy.