On p121 is an image of "The geocentric Venus orbit 1960-68", with earth
at the middle, and the constellations at the rim, with Venus tracing a
loopy round 5 pointed star - looks more like a five pointed flower.

Is this the image you're talking about?

http://www.arcomnet.net.au/~vincent/images/Venus72.gif

When I saw this picture, I couldn't make sense out of it. If the signs
of the zodiac (I think) are at the edge of the figure, then shouldn't
Venus be crossing them? It can't be north of Earth's orbit all the
time! And it still doesn't make sense that its apparent position would
be so symmetrical...