The Astrological Venus  

P. James Clark 

Lucas Cranach l'Ancien 1529 (detail) Vénus debout dans un paysage

The glyph for Venus consists of the circle of Spirit, having precedence over the cross of matter. In medicine and in all the biological sciences it is still the symbol for the feminine. This simple image is rich in significance. Venus is the Ruler of both Taurus and Libra, revealing the two aspects of the planetary influence. In this article, I will be focussing on the Taurean Venus.  

Taurus is a fixed earth sign and here Venus is the Earth Mother or womb from whose energy the earth receives the beauty of the natural world, as well as the comforts and pleasures it may afford. In Taurus, Venus is in her dignity and is best described as the voluptuary, a lover of physical, earthly beauty. This is the embodiment of Eros. As the Sun waxes in Taurus, the Earth is green and full of new life.

In mythology, the Classical Venus is just as glorious and infamous as her male counterpart, Mars. The simple formula "Venus is what we want and Mars is how we go about getting it" needs considerable qualification here. Someone with a strong, well aspected, Venusian influence can receive energy as easily as Mars can give it. So, you might think of her as the "feminine" path of receiving, rather than getting. What Venus wants is beauty and union in all its forms, including poetry, dance, music and visual art. She is the power of personal attraction and seeks to create relationship, meaning and value. She is the great seductress, as well as the Great Goddess who practises and teaches the art of love. She is the creative force that brings forth new life in erotic love, as well as procreation. She rules the sense of touch. In Classical Astrology, she is naturally said to take her joy in the fifth house.

Venus was identified in tradition as the daughter of the Moon, just as Mars serves the Sun. The Moon and Venus are both reflective ‘feminine’ forces in the chart. It is understandable that the Moon would be exalted in Taurus. Venus is considered as a "sister" planet to Earth. She is our closest neighbour and is similar in size and structure. Her rotation, however, is opposite to Earth's making her something of a mirror image to our home planet. The mirror or looking glass does resemble the glyph for Venus, and this reflective quality is essential to the sphere of the sensual Venus.

Seen in this way, Venus is more than the figure of Aphrodite can fully describe.  First of all, even in Classical mythology she was a powerful, but potentially treacherous deity. Although the feminine has been portrayed as passive, Aphrodite is no such thing. The active principal of Mars has been seen as more productive because the post Classical world has been overwhelmingly dominated by male perspective, which places more value on physical action in the realm of work and war, than the subtler unifying sensuality of Venus. Putting it very simply, one can conquer or seduce. After all, Aphrodite also got what she wanted as often as Mars. Without her influence, there would be no desire for either intimacy or procreation. 

In Babylonian tradition she was a "star" in a trinity with the Moon and Sun.  She was at one time personified as the Great Goddess who gave birth to the Sun, and at other times known as Lucifer, the light-bearing attendant to the Sun. As River and Gillespie have written, the deities associated with Venus in the Ancient Near East were "active initiators, for they brought in the day, awakening solar vitality. As the gentle and loving Evening Star, Venus was Zib, Hesperus and Shalem. Shelem was said to speak the Word of Peace nightly to the Sun, giving the Hebrew and Arabic word for peace, shalom and salaam. As Evening Star, Venus returns to the lunar world of the imagination." (The Knot of Time. p. 79).  It is easy then to see her connection to the ideal love (agape) of Neptune, her higher octave. So, of course Venus is exalted in Pisces. In this sign, Venus can most easily give unconditional love.

The Venus element in the natal chart is a place of potential vibrancy and sensual delight. Our culture has still not recovered from the Puritan revolution, essentially a rebellion against the feminine principle… a fear of intimacy. In other cultures she is still more accurately revered as the Goddess Rati (Erotic delight) and as the Tantric Goddess Shakti (cosmic energy) as well as Erato, the 'passionate one' in Greek poetry.  

The sexual energy, as shown in the Tantric version, is sacred. That is why afflictions to, and just as often misunderstanding of this energy gets us into trouble. Energy that is not recognized for what it is in the human psyche is easily misused. The essential drive of Venus is to bring balance, lasting harmony and to reconcile oppositions.        

Much may been written of the shadow side of Venus: the abuse of beauty to manipulate, to get sex and mistake it for love; the trap of co-dependency, obsessive promiscuity, and even “sex addiction.” It seems highly significant that the metal associated with Venus is copper and we know that copper is widely used in the cosmetic industry! An ill aspected Venus may cause the native to be vain, and therefore vulnerable. Of course this is spiritually and sensually corrosive, just as the surface of the planet Venus is corrosive. But any psychic energy within us as represented by the external planets will become "corrupted" if the nature of the energy is not understood, or the planet is in such horrendous condition that it cannot express its true nature. Personally, I feel that misunderstanding of the nature and power of Venus is as important as which sign it is in and how it is aspected. Consciousness purifies motivation.

Without the influence of Venus, particularly that of the desire for loving union and creativity, including the desire to have children, our lives would be like a vacuum. Mars would fight in vain and civilization would not occur. There would be no desire for loving bonds between us. The Venus cycle corresponds to the gestation period and underscores her role as bringer of life.