Venus is often referred to as the twin sister of the Earth and indeed in terms of their purely physical dimensions, they have similar properties. Venus' diameter is 7,600 miles very close to Earth's diameter of 7,927 miles, although it has a mass 17% lighter. Venus performs a complete rotation around the Sun in 225 days through the Earth's orbit. Therefore Venus, as well as Mercury, seems to travel in the sky closer to the Sun with its maximum elongation never exceeding 47 °.
The atmosphere of the dense clouds that surrounds it allows a large amount of light that falls on it, to be reflected, resulting in radiation to any celestial object except the Sun and the Moon. The light of Venus was observed with suspicion by traditional Chinese astrology and the reason is that the "Great White", as it was called, was considered unlucky and ominous since it possessed the colour of ghosts. To the Chinese, whenever Venus appeared in the sky, it was interpreted that she would bring wars and punishments to the world.
The same was true for the Mayan civilization, where the view of Venus in the sky meant war and therefore battles and decisions for war were synchronized with the circles of Venus and Jupiter.
The reptilian-figured but also the most important of all the gods of Central America, Quetzalcoatl, was identified with Venus that rose before dawn. Interestingly, the system of the Mayan ritual calendar was fully connected to the observation of Venus. Venus' synodal cycle lasts 584 days and Venus spends about 42 days of its entire synodal cycle retrograde. During this cycle, the planet proceeds to the phases of Morning Star and Evening Star. So, these phases separated the days in the Mayan calendar.
Subsequently, when Venus/Quetzalcoatl rose, people closed their windows and doors to protect themselves from Venus' rays because they believed that the god was throwing spears to pierce his enemies and they were afraid that illness and death were ascending with him.
The Mesopotamians and the Babylonians also had different beliefs. The Sumerian deity identified with Venus was Inanna, also known as Ishtar, and was a member of the Mesopotamian Trinity: Sun-Moon-Venus.
Many astrologers, such as Pam Carruthers, made an association of the myth of Inanna descending to the Underworld with the synodal circle of Venus that becomes a Morning Star or an Evening Star.
“The ancients always began observing the Venus/Inanna cycle after her conjunction with the Sun when she was first visible (10 degrees distant from the sun) in the eastern morning sky.
This is called the heliacal rising of Venus and corresponds to her inferior conjunction with the sun when she is closest to the earth, brightest, and retrograde. She then spends approximately 260 days, or seven lunar cycles in the east before descending beneath the horizon for approximately 60 days where she forms superior conjunction with the sun.
This 60-day period when Venus is too close to the sun to be observed is likened to her being in the underworld.
She then rises in the west for another approximate 260 days or 7 lunar cycles before returning to the underworld for a short 0-20 days."
Along with her qualities as the goddess of love, sex, and fertility, Inanna or Ishtar was also known as the "Lady of Battles". In ancient Greek mythology, Aphrodite retained all the above qualities but gave her militancy to her lover, the god Ares. "The dipole of male and female personified in Ancient Greece with Mars and Venus is the other side of the Sun and Moon, Yin and Yang, male and female", Liz Green explains in her book Relating. Venus symbolizes the need to share, while Mars symbolizes the passion of conquest itself. In other words, Mars desires but Venus wants to be desired.
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Aphrodite was the archetype but also the protector of heterae (prostitutes) and lovers. We are essentially seeing the other face of the female archetype from what we had seen with the Moon, where it was more of a symbol of motherhood and nourishment.
We will find astrological Venus being expressed in a person through the way one is adorned, through the idea of beauty one has, and of course through one's taste and social values. We will find her in someone's idea of companionship and consequently of the ideal partner.
Depending on her placement on an astrological chart as well as the contacts she makes with other planets, her qualities are coloured accordingly. For example, Venus in Scorpio or with a difficult aspect to Pluto will have a darker style or the love affairs will be characterized by wild passions and tension. In an aspect with Saturn or Venus in the sign of Capricorn, we see the motive of "love hurts" or we can find a simpler or old-fashioned style or the delay of the person to find the ideal partner.
Her negative expression is emotional demands, inhibitions in the expression of emotions, lust, and the uncontrolled tendency towards comfort, laziness, and greed. There are also problems with love affairs, problems with motherhood, and children. Natives will also be deprived of financial fulfilment and luxuries. In addition, they will lack the charms, and creative and artistic muses.
Ancient writers, such as Vettius Valens, emphasize the positive qualities of Venus, which is generally the case with ancient writers who approach the planets with a more black-and-white point of view, in comparison to how we perceive the planets in the 21st century.
According to Vettius Valens:
"Venus is desire and love. It indicates the mother and nurture. It makes priesthoods, school superintendencies, high offices with the right to wear a gold ring or a crown, cheerfulness, friendship, companionship, the acquisition of property, the purchase of ornaments, agreements on favorable terms, marriages, pure trades, fine voices, a taste for music, sweet singing, beauty, painting, mixing of colors both in embroidery, dyeing, and unguent making. the inventors and masters of these crafts, as well as craftsmanship or trade, and work in emeralds, precious stones, and ivory. Within its terms and degrees in the zodiac, Venus causes men to be gold-spinners, gold workers, barbers, and people fond of cleanliness and toys. It bestows the office of supervisor of weights and measures, the standards of weights and measures, markets, factories, the giving and receiving, laughter, good cheer, ornamentation, and hunting in moist places. Venus gives benefits from royal women or one’s own, and it brings very high rank when it operates in such affairs, Of the parts of the body, it rules the neck, the face, the lips, the sense of smell, the front parts from the feet to the head, the parts of intercourse; of the inner parts, it rules the lungs. It is a recipient of support from others and of pleasure. Of materials /4K/ it rules precious stones and fancy jewelry. Of fruits, it rules the olive. It is of the night sect, white in color, very greasy in taste." Anthologies Book 1
We see a similar approach from the Arab astrologer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (787--886AD), who, however, makes a clear distinction between the positive and negative qualities of Venus. Specifically, he says:
"The nature of Venus is cold, moist, phlegmatic, temperate, a fortune. And she signifies women and the mother and younger sisters, also beauty and clothing and ornaments, also gold and silver. And amiability toward friends, and admiration and elation, also pride and boasting, a love of singing and amusement and laughing, ornamentation and joy and happiness, dancing and playing the pipes, singing and plucking the strings of the lute. Even nuptials, and fragrances and what is pleasant, and amiability in the composing of songs, and the games of dice and chess. Also leisure and being dissolute and intoxication, and buffoonery, and resisting the people, and the sons of fornication, and every male or female fornicator or singer or one having fun with different kinds of amusements. And she signifies a multitude of perjuries and lies. Also wine and honey and every intoxicating drink, and a multitude of sexual intercourse of diverse kinds …And she signifies the love of children and the love of people, and endearment towards them, and trust in everyone. And being dutiful and gracious, and generosity and liberality, and freedom, and the beauty of character, good looks and flirting, and receiving, and light and splendor, and the sweetness of speech, and femininity, and flirting and fondness and ridicule and rejection, and the strength of the body and weakness of the soul, and an abundance of flesh on the body, and a multitude of pleasure in every matter. And she rejoices with everything and seeks every thing and is eager for it. And she signifies types of masteries: the doing of clean and admirable things, also the arranging of wedding ceremonies and their decoration, and the wearing of crowns, and images and colors, and dyers and seamstresses. And houses of worship, and honesty, and adherence to religion, and becoming holy, and justice and fairness, and scales and measures, and the love of shopping and clothing, and commerce in it with pleasant things.
(Abu Mashar's Great Introduction [VII.9.1510-39]. Translated by Benjamin Dykes The Introductions to Traditional Astrology: Abu Ma'shar & al-Qabisi)
Alan Leo (7 August 1860-30 August 1917) proposes a different approach:
"The vibrations of Venus directly affect the higher part of the nature through the human soul and higher mind[...] The love is shown by Venus always sanctifies and makes for harmony through conjugality, friendship, and soul Union. [...]The 'Sons of Mind' who came from the planet Venus gave to infant humanity its first germ of that true mind which is in its essence immortal and through this, the period of months evolution was considerably shortened by the receiving this divine spark the seed of the human soul was implanted in the animal man, who would otherwise have spent countless ages in acquiring that which this beneficent beings through their love and compassion gave to humanity. ''
Venus' transits are seldom noticed, but it is important to choose her auspicious days on an electional chart. Also, work or activities related to Venus should be carried out when Venus is in the zodiac signs, either of her rulership or her exaltation, ie in Libra, Taurus, and Pisces.
As we just saw in the Theosophical writer Alan Leo, but we find the same in the writings of the prophet Edgar Cayce, Venus plays an important role in helping mankind. The fact that it is much closer to the Sun than the Earth and because it is the brightest at dawn and in the sunset, we see it from ancient times to the present day, to function as a mediator between the Earth and the will of God. There is still the belief that Venus leads humanity and brings the teachings of the brotherhood of Christ. The great teachers who have served as messengers on this earth all speak of the law of love and brotherhood, values and qualities attributed to Venus.
Its synodal circle creates an exceptional symmetry, which is symbolized by its five-pointed star created by its movement, something that represents the absolute expression of God in man and man in God. We see the same symmetry expressed in nature and life. All the laws of physical form depend on balance and dimensions, a rhythm and symmetry that determines their beauty and their very nature.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was born in the foam of the sea, and it is no coincidence that Venus' exaltation is in Pisces, the sign of the sea. A sign ruled by Jupiter, which has an exaltation in Cancer, the sign of the Moon - again a sign of water - and the Moon again has an exaltation in Taurus, which is the sign of Venus. So, we see a Trinity of planets: Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon which are very much connected, and through esoteric astrology we see these bodies reveal the will of God.
Through the zodiac signs ruled by Venus, it is related to the seventh and second house. The 7th is the house of others, of marriage but also of the open enemies, while the 2nd house is related to our values and our material goods. A house that connected Venus with money. Its exaltation as we have seen is in the sign of Pisces, something that gives accidental dignity to Venus in the 12th house where it is expressed through sacrifice and universal love.
We will find astrological Venus being expressed in a person through the way one is adorned, through the idea of beauty one has, and of course through one's taste and social values. We will find her in someone's idea of companionship and consequently of the ideal partner.
Richard Idemon, a psychological astrologer, in his book 'Through the looking glass', explains how Venus, like epithemia (desire), was demonized by the Judeo-Christian tradition. The blocking of desire, sexuality, and consequently pleasure has created psychological blockages in humanity. In ancient Greece, however, Aphrodite was the personification of pleasure and that is why it is associated with the sign of Taurus. In fact, "the Greek gods and goddesses never really fell in love. They were not even capable of doing so," Idemon explains. "Aphrodite, for instance, had many sexual encounters with both gods and mortals, but you couldn't call it love in the same sense as we use the word[...] [she was] motivated by epithemia, by an innate drive that says ''I want'', and my desire is something natural that should be fulfilled. If you look at the earliest incarnations of the Greek Aphrodite, such as Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, and other deities of the Middle East, you will find that she is even more primitive and demanding of her right to explore her body through sex and masturbation''.
So Taurus as the first sign of the earth does not discriminate is more related to childhood (as the first personal sign) and is actually considered a little naïve, like Aries. There is a need for care, caress, and touch, something we see in children who need cuddling and care but also in animals that can be constantly licked or cuddled without meaning that they want to reproduce. This deity was therefore banished from the Judeo-Christian religion and demonized in the form of Mary Magdalene, the prostitute who carries sin and provokes men. A story that we see repeated in the Garden of Eden with the fall of the man and the demonization of Eve as she became the desire-carrier and consequently the one who woke it up.
The desire that can lead to addiction is related to the need to be touched and caressed. According to Freud, the first sense of pleasure comes from the mouth, and not coincidentally, most addictions start from the mouth itself, as Idemon explains.
Venus is also related to friendship in its ancient Greek context as through friendship we want to share, coexist, and have fun. Children have the first awakening of their sexuality through their friendships. Friendship sees the other as different and that is where the acceptance of the other and the need to bridge the gap and the journey from 'me' to 'us' begins.
Venus, like epithemia (desire), was demonized by the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Venus in Signs (all the traits of a placement are subjected to the horoscope as a whole, in combination with house placement and aspects).
Venus in Aries: A placement that does not suit Venus as she is in the sign of her detriment. Venus becomes an Amazon. We will see the woman who can 'hunt' or flirt with the man. Passionate nature with exceptional creative power. It has a more aggressive emotional expression which, however, does not lack enthusiasm and spark for social gatherings. She is unstable and impulsive. She needs a lot of attention and tends to become self-centred. Her manners do not have the kindness that characterizes Venus and can become a little coarse. However, if it is well-placed we can see a positive attitude towards life. On the negative side we can see: love passions, imbalance in relationships, quarrelling, disputes, while in finances it may show financial recklessness and mismanagement that is subject to the desires of the individual.
Venus in Taurus: A very good placement for Venus as it is the placement of her rulership. We see deep-rooted emotions, loyalty, consistency, love of luxury, artistic interests. Emotional security and stability are very important to these individuals. Their relationships are stable, but they can be characterized by possessiveness and jealousy if their security is threatened. They tend to value material goods more but generally, they look for a quiet, safe family environment. Financial stability is just as important. It is generally a place that gives good taste, beautiful voice, good appearance, or at least good taste. A passive position that is, however, committed and stable. She has intense sexuality. In this placement, we can find very talented singers with beautiful voices as well as people who are involved and love fashion, flowers or gardening.
Venus in Gemini: A charm that has very youthful qualities. She is often described as a butterfly because she likes to go from one flirtation to another. She is not characterized by stability or depth of emotions. She is interested in travel or commuting in search of pleasure or social activity. Clever, artistic expression and interest in literature. Verbal games and playfulness give her lightness and make her amiable. Need for variety, fun, freedom. On the negative side, it can give a waste of money and emotions. Also, many values related to marriage and love can be superficial.
Venus in Cancer: People who are deeply emotional in their romantic feelings can be easily hurt and generally hide how vulnerable they are behind a façade of propriety. Emotionally they have ups and downs which often makes them unpredictable. They generally value financial and domestic stability. They want to feel loved. Their home is a place of comfort and beauty. They like to organize social activities at home and take care of their friends. Good placement for real estate management. Intense emotions, dependency, jealousy, and instability are some of its negative characteristics. However, she has femininity, romance, and tenderness. She likes to take care of her partner in an almost maternal way.
Venus in Leo: Emotions are expressed with ardour, enthusiasm, and sincerity. They are the lovers of life and in a way, their love behaviour is characterized by theatricality. They have high levels of social and personal pride, but they like to be in the spotlight. They like expensive parties, luxury and tend to exaggerate. It is the place where we can find good actors but also stars in general, as they look for and move easily as the centre of attention. They like fun, theatre, flirting, and having a good time. She is generally a dignified, tender, and expressive Venus but can become stubborn and in negative aspects could show authoritarianism or snobbery. Arrogance, selfishness, and obsession with sex have also been observed.
Venus in Virgo: It is not a good placement for Venus as she is in the sign of her fall, since Virgo is opposite Pisces, the sign of Venus' exaltation. In this placement, people are restrained and look at their emotions through the lens of a microscope. Hyper-analysis and criticism create inhibitions and generally make natives not have a spontaneous flow of emotions. In this placement, we see people looking for partners with whom they can work or have common intellectual interests. They are getting married late in life or they do not get married at all because they are always looking for the perfect partner and there is nowhere to be found. This Venus shows her love by becoming useful to others. A good relationship with colleagues - unless Venus is afflicted - as well as relationships from the workplace. With negative aspects, she is characterized by self-interest in love, coldness of emotions, and complexity. Good placement for fashion designers as this Venus has technical ability although she may lack inspiration. In this sign, we can see from excessive shyness to excessive sexual deviations, all as a result of the need for personal affection and care that natives feel they never receive.
Venus in Libra: a Venus that is believed to marry easily as she can make great concessions for a harmonious relationship but also to forgive the imperfections of the other. She generally gives natural beauty but also good taste. There is an innate tendency for harmonious social contacts and understanding of others. Good manners, courtesy, maybe sometimes even to extreme. A sense of justice in all relationships and high standards and values. Natives do not like bad taste and rudeness in general. Beauty plays a very important role for her; she always wants to give good impression and tries to beautify her space and relationships. Good place for professions of beauty, fashion, art, law and public relations. In unfavourable aspects, we will see a tendency for laziness, hasty marriages, lack of self-confidence, superficial feelings and social values, conformity.
Venus in Scorpio: Venus is in the sign of her detriment because Scorpio is opposite Taurus, a sign of Venus' rulership. With this placement, the emotions are expressed with intensity and there is a great need for possession and control. Venus in this sign has great sexual desire, jealousy, secrecy, sensuality, seriousness. She has very provocative behaviour and is often involved in relationships where there is love and hate. She is very suspicious, cautious and often has passive aggression. Her relationships are usually stormy and extreme. It is the placement we see Venus be like "All or nothing". A heavy placement that can even show sadism and violence. Interest in metaphysics, esotericism. They also are psychic receivers of the emotions of others. With bad aspects, we will see the femme fatale in a female horoscope that uses sex to gain power. In the same placement, we will also find gluttony and aphrodisiac diseases. It is the placement where Venus is insatiable.
Venus in Sagittarius: A placement where Venus is held by idealism, enthusiasm, sociability, and popularity. She is independent and often unsuitable for marriage as she can not have any restrictions. She is expressive and generous. She loves the expansion of horizons and knowledge, elements that she seeks in her relationships. We often find marriages with foreigners or people who have a philosophical vocation, higher education, or are associated with higher knowledge or religion. They enjoy sports and contests and find emotional satisfaction when doing such activities with their partner. Because of Jupiter, they tend towards extravagance and exaggeration. They may like classical art though and symphonic music. On the negative side, it shows superficiality, disintegration, and tendencies to flee when feeling bound.
Venus in Capricorn: a very insecure Venus who is afraid to express her feelings openly. She is looking for material status and wealth to achieve her emotional stability. She often marries for these reasons as well. She will fall in love with someone who will have prestige and some social behaviour, as well as prestige. Shyness but also intense sensuality when she feels safe. Dignity and refinement. She finds it difficult to forgive and behave spontaneously. A placement that prefers practicality in both art and love. A placement that gives relationships with an age difference. Usually, if they get married early, they get married older partners; if they get married later, they get married to younger ones because they can give the maturity that someone else is looking for. In bad aspects, we find celibacy or marriage out of interest to ascend in society. Emotional coldness and excessive demands.
Venus in Aquarius: a placement that displays friendship, freedom, and independence. People are too friendly with everyone and generally, their love is expressed in a detached or impersonal way. She prefers unconventional relationships and hates possessiveness and jealousy. A placement that does not prefer commitments as she feels restricted. Unusual tastes, either too modern or too old-fashioned. Their sexual ways tend to be eccentric and they like variety. Fair, stable, with enough morality and idealism that reaches the limits of coldness.
Venus in Pisces: this is the placement of Venus' exaltation and is known for her compassion, tenderness, sensitivity, and tremendous intuition. This Venus is very romantic and delicate and can be sacrificed for the other. There is a need for peace in relationships although unfortunately, her need to save or be saved makes her attracted to marginalized or addicted people. She loves art, poetry, dance, music, travel, and the sea are very therapeutic for her. In this placement, if Venus is negatively aspected, we will find disappointments, Christ syndrome or tendency to become a martyr, neurotic tendencies, psychological problems, lies. They need to develop discrimination.
Anastasia Diakidi
Imaginarium Magazine 9 September 2021
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