Venus : valorization, attraction and affectivity
See Planetary Rulerships.
- Element : Air (hot and humid)
- Polarity : Feminine Yin
- Harmonic or complementary Planets (excluding Aspects) :
Mars – Neptune - Cycle duration : 340 days (Zodiac), about 225 days (Sun)
- Symbolizing aspect : Sextile
- Corresponding life age : 18 to 25 years old
- Physiology : kidneys, venous system
- Venus travels at about 1 degree per day; it spends a little less than a month per sign -excluding prolonged period of retrograde motion-; the planet never deviates more than 48 degrees from the Sun.
- Venus is in Retrograde nearly 42 days at each retrogradation every 1 year and a half or so.
Venus in astronomy
Venus is almost as big as the planet Earth, in some ways it’s considered its twin sister.
Its rotation is retrograde and its orbit is almost perfectly circular.
Its rocky surface is concealed by its thick atmosphere, large milky clouds that give it its slightly pale blond color tending towards ochre…
On its surface, a rain of sulphuric acid in a furnace of more than 840°F / 450°C due to its greenhouse effect… Moreover, when we talk about the atmosphere, we imagine our “air”, but it’s not! On Venus its density is so high that the gases have almost the consistency of liquid…
Its topography reveals vast plains, apparently volcanic, and few high reliefs.
Many volcanoes have been discovered on Venus, but without very explicit activity, which scientists still don’t understand… they suppose that huge periodic eruptions totally remodel its surface…
Venus also has a weak magnetic field.
See: Venus on Wikipedia
Venus, astrological planet
If the Moon is the mother or the wife running the household, Venus is sensuality, seduction, the lover, the mistress, and the pleasures that go with it, the woman who is in entertainment, feminine pole of attraction which “magnet” thanks to its magnetism the masculine pole to provoke the union of the 2 complementary opposites.
In the popular image, Venus is “love”, but it is necessary to understand that in astrology its symbolism is more “attraction” and “affectivity” subjective (faculty to feel feelings) than really love… love being more a function of the Sun, especially in its universal objective part.
As suggested by its 2 Rulerships, there are 2 Venus :
- Taurus Venus very voluptuous, which is in the possession, passion, very epicurean in the “carpe diem” mode, all softness, roundness and tenderness, pleasure of the senses, the well being, the pleasure…
- Libra Venus more voluble, which is in the sociability, the beauty, aesthetics, charm, refinement, harmonious unions in mutual understanding, sharing, friendliness, indulgence, empathic understanding…
These 2 Venus coexist so well that it is often difficult to differentiate them… Their main common point is their relation to feelings, the senses perception, emotions perception, affection, then their warmth, their coquetry… It’s for all these reasons above that it was nicknamed in traditional astrology the “little beneficial” (and Jupiter the “great beneficial”).
Venus therefore governs all artistic professions, theatre, comedy, painting, sculpture, music, dance, and consequently all places where one can have a good time…
Venus is the “form” and the “sound”, the 2 “baits” that attract the senses, the factors that allow us to establish a value judgement on our environment, a scale of appreciation, to go towards what we find “beautiful” and which consequently seduces us…
In this sense, Venus is pure subjectivity and often very materialistic, but these purely Venusian values can also be sublimated if they find a more objective meaning and axis (this is part of the dialogue’s mission Mercury-Venus and Venus-Moon, to find this balance in the process of Individuation and end up sublimating the fundamental solar energy).
This is the deep meaning of our natal Venus, succeeding in our life to overcome the “materialistic lures” to allow an objective solar expression without false pretenses.
Mercury thanks to its power of differentiation makes us aware of dualities, Venus attributes them a value thanks to its evaluation faculties, it gives meaning to Mercury’s differentiation.
Precisions on the difference between the Moon and Venus, therefore on the nature of their dialogue, these planets are unfortunately often confused and amalgamated :
- The Moon is above all “psychism”, unconscious, and concrete experience of daily reality. Its sensitivity and emotionality are related to these intimate inner realms.
- Venus is trying to lure it from the outside, it wants to “capture away” to bring back to itself. Venus enriches the Moon with its feelings, it brings its affects so that the Moon can make them psychologically and concretely exploitable.
As for planet Mars that is twinned with Venus, it is the next step in the astrological solar system. It will put feelings into action, either it will further increase the force of attraction, or it will respond to the attraction force with concrete affective activity… Venus and Mars are together them the libido.
Venus is the lower octave of Neptune, Venus provides the first impulse of affect to Neptune, a strong or weak Venus will impact the way of living the universalization, and the intuitive and transcendental perceptions of Neptune.
In a Birth Chart one looks at Venus to get an idea of the official and unofficial sentimental state of the native (potential for conquests, links, weddings, even fidelity, mistress and extra-marital life…) Venus indicates a part of the individual’s affective equilibrium and its intimate relationship to others.
Where Venus is found, it brings harmony, softness, seduction, conciliation.
Venus is a Sun’s auxiliary with Mercury, it seconds it and supports the process of Individuation of the solar consciousness that she initiates at the sentimental and emotional level.
Venus in signs indicates the archetype of consciousness that we use to attract to us in intimate relationships, the personality type and the corresponding attraction type, its subjective and objective expression (our personal tastes, our attractions “type”) as well as the social environment where personality is best expressed (simplicity or mundanities for example).
Venus in houses will specify the activity sector where our attraction force is maximum, where we invest ourselves sentimentally, where we place our affects and develop them, where we have the best ease of evaluation of all values in general, where we bring and appreciate beauty, harmony, aesthetics …
The Planets in Aspect with Venus come to modulate its attraction faculties, its magnetism, we can be pushed to abuse our charms or on the contrary to have problems “of attraction”, or in some cases Venus turns the character to a tendency towards laziness.
Sublimated Venus translates into the spiritual aspect, usually with other parallel aspects.
Venus in transit can also be the sign of concluded agreements or contracts, of made acquisitions.
Venus retrograde tends to express itself under the colors according to its second sign of rulership, Libra.
Venus retrograde Venus in Birth Chart means an internalization of affective and sentimental functions that may indicate introversion or inhibition, a more reflective and subjective (less influenced by social group) meaning of values, an attraction to abstract and inner beauty.
The native is less demonstrative, his sociability more balanced and impartial, much less extravagant, enticing and materialistic, although sometimes misunderstood by those close to him, he appreciates loneliness and secrecy more.
In some cases, this may mean difficulty in building financial security or a lack of self-esteem that perverts the notion of value in love (see my article Love, Psychology and Astrology).
Watch for its direct motion resumption in Progression.
In transit, the Retrograde motion often indicates a period of sentimental attention (new in love ? an impulse ?), of affective introversion (hidden love ? indecision ?), perhaps a creative pause (finishing a piece of work ?) or an effervescence of sociability. It can also be a new value scale in general (altered and modified judgment), or a frustration of life’s pleasures, or even any form of delay in contracts, in acquisitions (beware of any form of evaluation or valuation of anything), in fields related to aesthetics or other areas of Venus, to be specified according to the chart dominants (study the Birth Chart, Houses concerned, other transits…).
These Venus in Retrograde periods are generally favorable, at least in the long term (see Dissonant Aspects). They are an integral part of the cycle, and as such they must be used in one way or another, more than dreaded : read my article How to live Venus retrograde on a daily basis.
In a man’s chart, Venus represents the physical magnetic sexual attraction in the woman he is looking for; but Venus is also his feminine part that he must integrate.
In the Jungian sense, Venus is the Anima, a female archetype of the woman lover.
In the woman’s chart, Venus will therefore be directly related to her femininity, to her way of living her life as a woman-lover, of playing on her charms, of attracting to her especially ! what is her magnetism ? what are her seduction traps ? in short, her way of using all the assets of the planet mentioned above.
Venus’ cycle
- When Venus is behind the Sun in the Zodiac (example, Venus in Taurus, Sun in Gemini), it is called “Venus Lucifer”, Morning Star, this Venus has values as tinted by Uranus and Air : optimistic, future-oriented, independent, self-reliant, visionary, open, intuitive, youthful…
- Inferior conjunction
- When Venus is in front of the Sun in the Zodiac (example, Sun in Pisces, Venus in Aries), it is called “Venus Hesperus”, Evening Star, this Venus has values as tinted by the Moon and Water : internalization, shyness, inhibition, impressionable, versatile, adaptable, nostalgic, over-control, fear…
- Superior conjunction
If you are particularly interested in this Venus cycle aspect, I recommend the book “Astrological aspects – A process-oriented approach” by Dane Rudhyar.
Venusian personality traits
A native whose chart will be strongly marked by Venus will have qualities of gentleness, conciliation, sentimentality, grace, spontaneity…
He is greedy, voluptuous, optimistic, and luck often smiles at him !
Seductive, charming, he knows how to play with his physique and enhance it.
He often has artistic gifts : comedy, painting, music, dance, sculpture, decoration, fashion… He also tends to put affect before reason (Mercury).
Negative Venus : materialist, unfaithful, jealous, selfish, narcissistic, resentful, lazy, indolent, passive, enjoyable, carefree, hypocritical, capricious, naive or even silly, addicted to the mundane…
Character traits found in Taurus and Libra (their Domiciles).
In the circle of life, Venus represents the age of entry into adult life, the first serious love relationships from 18 to 25 years old, where one begins to fully use all one’s faculties of attraction on one’s environment.
Venus in mythology is inspired by the Aphrodite Goddess, (Goddess of love and sexuality), see Aphrodite on Wikipedia