Rules: Taurus, Libra
Key words and qualities: What we love, the manner in which we love. How we love the world by creating art and beauty.
Color: Emerald green
Metal: Copper
Physical body affinities: Kidneys, and all fleshy, curvy parts of the body.
Festivals: Beltane, Autumnal equinox
Way of honoring: Making things beautiful.
Shadow, when not honored: Vanity and indolence.
Venus reminds us to honor our individual affinities – those people, colors, tastes, animals, art forms, and interests to which we are drawn. Venus doesn’t have hobbies, she has passions. Our attractions are our primary clues as to how we can make a unique contribution to the world. Venus is the invisible force of attraction, love, kinship, art, and relationship.
Venus’s affinity for both Taurus and Libra indicates that human community depends upon an intimate relationship to the natural world. In her connection with Taurus, Venus asks, “To what part of nature are you lovingly drawn?” We are the ambassadors of whatever we love in the human world. In her affinity for Libra, she asks, “To whom are you lovingly drawn?”
Every eighth year the Sun and Venus will duplicate their original relationship which means at the ages of eight, sixteen, twenty-four, thirty-two, forty, and so on, Venus is thematically strongest in our charts. At those times, our original issues around love, creativity, and relationship will be most dramatized.
Interestingly in modern times, Venus is most often found in the signs of Scorpio, Aries and Gemini and these are not the traditional Venus images. This suggests that our culture right now requires a very different, emerging image of the feminine. Venus’s presence in both of Mars’ signs (Aries and Scorpio), as well as in the androgynous and dual sign of Gemini, reminds us that the feminine does not just live in women, nor does the masculine live solely in men.
The natal placement of Venus provides hints as to what you value and how you go about manifesting your desires.