étoile du matin

The planet Venus above Otter Lake from Goddard Bay in the morning.

One of the nicknames of the planet Venus is “the Morning Star”. It’s also known as the Evening Star. Of course, Venus isn’t a star at all, so why does Venus have these nicknames?

The orbit of Venus is inside the orbit of Earth. Unlike the outer planets, Venus is always relatively close to the Sun in the sky. When Venus is on one side of the Sun, it’s trailing the Sun in the sky and brightens into view shortly after the Sun sets, when the sky is dark enough for it to be visible. When Venus is at its brightest, it becomes visible just minutes after the Sun goes down. This is when Venus is seen as the Evening Star.

When Venus is on the other side of the Sun, it leads the Sun as it travels across the sky. Venus will rise in the morning a few hours before the Sun. Then as the Sun rises, the sky brightens and Venus fades away in the daytime sky. This is Venus the Morning Star.

Lucifer ‘light-bringer’, corresponding to the Greek name, Ἑωσφόρος. ‘dawn-bringer’ is a Latin name for the planet Venus in its morning appearances and is often used for mythological and religious figures associated with the planet. Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, the mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld.

Interpretations of a similar term in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as “Lucifer”, led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer, and its associated stories of a fall from heaven, to Satan.

Lucifer the ‘light-bringer’.

So are you feeling the light?  Channeling Venus or Lucifer?

What’s in a name?

Thank you to UniverseToday and Wikipedia