Venus represents the give-and-take of love, affection, and sensual pleasures. The giving is shown in how we express affection and in how we care for and show our feelings for others. Venus also reveals our emotional needs and what sorts of experience we crave from those who are close to us—which, in turn, helps us to be balanced and to feel wanted and loved.
So, yes, Venus is very much about love. How balanced are we in giving and receiving love? Are we in love with ourselves so much that we are blind and deaf to the cries for reciprocal affection? Sometimes we lose touch with our necessity to have love in our lives and the understanding of others. Venus in our birth-charts shows us the way.
Venus in women's charts has to do with the female ego. A woman needs to experience the qualities of her Venus sign in order to feel feminine. In addition, it shows how a woman receives and gives of herself in love and sex. It indicates how a woman approaches any relationship that might eventually lead to sex as well as to less intimate social relationships.
For men, Venus is synonymous with romance, attraction, and the images of what is beautiful. Venus indicates what sexually attracts a man, as well as what turns on his feelings when it comes to finding the ideal woman for a long-term partnership.
According to psychologist Carl Jung, Venus is an anima principle symbolizing the urge to balance, harmonize, merge, and cherish. Animi, or inner attitude, to Jung, was represented in the unconscious by definite persons with corresponding qualities. He called such an image the "soul-image." Sometimes, Jung wrote, these images are of quite unknown or mythological figures, such as Venus, goddess of beauty and love.
Where Venus is by house placement shows a sphere of experience through which we can most naturally attain a sense of harmony, balance, well-being, and contentment. Our ability to appreciate things, to love and be loved, is encouraged wherever she resides in a chart.
Because the house placement of Venus often corresponds to high ideals and expectations of perfection, the house where Venus resides may also denote where we suffer from failure and frustration when life fails to meet these lofty ideals. Also, it is safe to say that Venus shows where we feel driven to do something that will improve the world around us and make us happier about ourselves. As Venus hates to compete, look in your chart to where she sits, and this is the area in life where you will feel a sense of rivalry. In that house, you will find the area in which you may even be tempted to seduce, deceive, and lie to get your way. At times in our lives, wherever Venus is in our chart, we may feel a certain amount of pain or hardship that is necessary to bring us into a better balance, should we have swung too far in any one direction.
VENUS THROUGH THE ZODIAC
Aries—You value your individuality and are reluctant to show your need for closeness because of your strong self-assertiveness and craving for new experiences. You need to feel intimate with others and put yourself in the other fellow's shoes, but your pride and independence get in the way at times and you can be more concerned with "self" satisfaction. However, you also value initiative and individuality when you find it in others.
Taurus—You respond readily to sensual pleasures and certainly enjoy being wined and dined. You are affectionate, passionate, and possessive. With Venus at home in Taurus (unlike Aries), you will value instinctual, material comforts and will respond to deeply centered energy from loved ones.
Gemini—Your need for pleasure is reflected in being friendly, charming, intelligent, and quick witted, which will keep you ever popular, but you'll have to be patient with those who don't always appreciate your changeable curiosity.
Cancer—You are likely to be an earth mother type, with a strong need to nurture and be nurtured. You are sentimental, kind, and gentle. But mostly you are emotional, with a strong need for security. Being sensitive to others, you are quite receptive to their moods and desires. This makes you a good listener and loved one. You are not aggressive, and this may be one reason people like you so much.
Leo—People count on your loyalty and generosity, but your ego might push you to take center stage, as you are indeed a dramatic lover. Be sure your loved ones adore you sufficiently beforehand and they will admire your creativity and vitality for life. Sociability and loyalty to a partner will be shown through generosity and your natural joie de vivre!
Virgo—You tend to like life to be just so and expect loved ones to fit that bill, too. Try not to become too fussy over your day-to-day chores and routines; it might interfere with major relationships. You need to warm up and learn to "relate" to others around you. When you see imperfections in people, try to push them aside and focus on the good qualities.
Libra—You can be charming, considerate, and the epitome of fairness and balance in all things, but you also expect to have beauty and harmony in all aspects of your life. Venus is quite happy in this sign. Being able to be diplomatic and spare others' feelings means you will build bridges and keep relationships ongoing even when change may be needed.
Scorpio—You will be a passionate and aggressive partner to your loved one, driven by compulsive desires and deep emotions. Try to control the selfish urges and learn to focus on the needs and wishes of your mate. If you can learn to give and take with others, it will generate a healing, transformative energy.
Sagittarius—A restless urge to experience the new is the key to understanding someone with Venus in Sagittarius. You need a certain amount of risk or adventure in all things, and that includes stimulating interaction with loved ones. You dislike being tied down, yet if that love of your life can offer philosophical harmony, a long-term love will win out. You value honesty in relationships, and no one loves a good time more than you do.
Capricorn—You are often too serious, too cautious, and sometimes too stifling because of a need for rules and overprotectiveness that can create conflict in relationships. You don't express feelings easily. If you have this placement, you may need to be sure of your commitment from another before delving into deeper waters. You will be loyal and work hard to make a relationship succeed.
Aquarius—You can be unconventional, sometimes cool and distant, but always avant-garde. You will be attracted to imaginative ideas and people, and this may lead to your creating the odd fantasy around the ones you love—which will be stimulating. You do quite well in friendships and in groups, but you don't always understand those who are ruled by their feelings. Life will not be dull, but rather different.
Pisces—You are the typical, spiritual romantic who yearns for magical experiences. Self-sacrifice is part of your nature. Your desires can be vague regarding whom you really need and want in your life, and you may turn to creating an idealistic picture of the "perfect" partner, but one who is without "warts and all!" You do have the ability to identify a lover's feelings, but don't sacrifice yourself in the process.
Venus in Taurus (one of the signs Venus rules) represents the earthier and more sensual side of Venus, giving us that urge to satisfy our basic desires—be they physical or instinctual in nature. With Venus in Libra (the other Venus-ruled sign), we want to fulfill romantic and aesthetic ideals of love, fairness, symmetry, and, in the quest of that which is beautiful, the true meaning in life. Any house with Taurus or Libra on the cusp (or contained within it) has the feeling of Venus about it.
As the late Charles Harvey so aptly described, the four elements represent four different types of energy, four distinct states of consciousness or approaches to the world. Fire is preoccupied with the future, with the hidden meaning of the potential of things and what can be made of them. Earth is interested in the here-and-now, in facts and practicalities. Air is concerned with the abstract, of cause and effect. Air can survey the past, present, and future in an attempt to get the overall viewpoint. Water is involved with connectedness and emotions, and it is preoccupied with the past. Now, add to this the planetary energy of Venus, which is concerned with how we give and receive love, and we can begin to understand more about how and who we are. If she sits in the element of fire, you are likely to express affection energetically, and you will find it easy to share activities with your loved ones, which is a link to becoming closer. If Venus is in an earth sign in your chart, you will express love physically and practically in your quest for sensual pleasure. Those with Venus in an air sign will find love is stimulated through intellectual pursuits; they will get a sense of companionship from mental (as well as physical) pleasure. With Venus in water, there will be an interchange of sensitivity and feelings on a subtle level, leading to a sensation of deep merging and shared meaning between two souls.
Finding emotional balance is one of the most essential ingredients to a successful and healthy life. Knowing our real needs and desires and learning to express them are not always easy to do, especially considering the hectic life-styles that most of us live. Finding balance is the key. Sometimes, to be able to give love we need to love ourselves first. We need to know what it feels like to be in equilibrium before we can reach out to others. Therefore, inner ways of getting in touch with ourselves are important—practices such as meditation. Using breathing techniques to calm down and step "outside" ourselves to become one with the universe is not only healing for the soul, but it can also be inspiring and recharge us so that we focus energy where it is needed. This is how we may come to some clear conscious approach towards decisive action in our lives. Another helpful tool to achieve balance is to use aromatherapy oils that come under the rulership of Venus—oils such as rose or geranium. Geranium is excellent for balancing our psyches hormonally as well as emotionally.
Another healing alternative is to create your own Venus talisman. The Renaissance philosopher and astrological sage/magician Marsilio Ficino wrote in his Three Books On Life about using the influences of the cosmos for health, and one of the most important sources of astrological magic Ficino used was the principle of electional astrology and that of Hermetic and neo-Platonic philosophy to create a talisman of the planet Venus.
In chapter eighteen of Book Three of Ficino's Three Books on Life, he teaches us how to assemble a Venus talisman. "For gaiety and strength of body they made an image of a young Venus holding apples and flowers in her hand, dressed in yellow and white, made in the hour of Venus, when the first face of Libra, or of Pisces, or of Taurus, was ascending with her."
The hour of Venus is a planetary hour ruled by Venus. You must find the time when a Venus hour is in effect (see Your February Hour Guide in this magazine) and the time when she is in the Ascendant as well as being in the first ten degrees of either Taurus or Libra, the signs she rules, or Pisces, her sign of exaltation.
So choose the right time and assemble a paper drawing of Venus. The paper image, once made, can be incorporated into a piece of jewelry containing copper, which is the metal ruled by Venus. Other Venusian materials, such as lapis lazuli or jade, can be used. Have the central Venus figure holding apples or flowers. To the left, inscribe the sign for Venus (C). On the bottom right-hand side, write down the desired effect that you wish to manifest and make sure you clearly state what you want to happen—i.e., healing, health, vitality.
Ficino suggested suffumigation(burning incense) using typical Venus-ruled aromas such as rose or musk. Play appropriate Venus music. Ficino suggested "voluptuous with wantonness and softness." The musical notes associated with Venus are E flat for Taurus and D for Libra.
So once you have created your talisman, burn the appropriate incense and listen to or, better still, sing or play appropriate Venusian music at the time elected. Ficino recommends wearing the completed talisman next to your skin for the best outcome.
What is Venus trying to teach us? For the flame to blaze on long beyond that initial "honeymoon" period, we look to Venus to reveal the compatibilities of loved ones. Venus is all about how we give and take, the essence of any lasting relationship. There are many necessities in life, but apart from the basic air we breathe, the water and food we need for existence, there is the sensual and essential elixir of life. We call it love, and Venus directs us to it, along that pathway to enlightened truth.