The transits of the planets

Venus - Introduction

According to most astrological sources, Venus is often called the “Lesser Benefic.” This label is usually taken to mean two things: first, that the energies of Venus are uniformly positive and creative; second, that because Venus is one of two planets (the other being Jupiter) called “benefic,” those energies are uniformly “good.” Neither assumption is correct. There is no planet whose energies always operate for good, or for bad, for that matter. It is possible to abuse and distort the energies of every planet, just as it is possible to make even the most “malefic” (the opposite of benefic) work positively and creatively.

The two so-called benefic planets, Venus and Jupiter, represent energies that most people are comfortable with and look forward to experiencing. Jupiter will be taken up in its own chapter. Venus is the planet that represents the love goddesses of the ancient world, especially Ishtar for the Babylonians, Astarte for other ancient Semitic peoples, Aphrodite for the Greeks, and Venus for the Romans. Aphrodite is in fact the Greek name for the planet as well as the goddess. (Astrology typically follows the convention of using the Latin names of the gods and goddesses.) If one wants to see the downside of Venusian energy, one only needs to read the mythology of Aphrodite/Venus to discover not a great mother goddess but something akin to a cosmic bimbo. In fact, the astrological description of the planet is much more positive than the mythological description of the goddess. But the downside of Venus is exactly what you would expect of a goddess of love and luxury. On the other hand, the high side of Venus, explored below, goes beyond even what the ancients thought of the planet.

So, what can make the energies of Venus turn negative? The answer is stupidity! The Buddha states in his Second Noble Truth that the cause of suffering is desire. While it would not be quite accurate to say that the energies of Venus represent the broad-based desire the Buddha referred to, it is safe to say that sexual desire, which is indeed one of the attributes of Venusian energy (along with the energies of Mars), can be the cause of much suffering. I do not think this needs elaboration. Most astrological texts argue that the main astrological cause of a negative Venus experience is difficult combinations with the so-called malefics, or Venus being in signs with which she is incompatible. These configurations can, of course, create difficulties, but it is never inevitable that Venus operates badly in a chart, although some combinations greatly increase that possibility.

Qualities of Venus

It is traditionally maintained that the principal quality of Venus is the Wet. However, there is disagreement between Ptolemy and the other Hellenistic authors on the one hand, and the medieval Arabic and Latin authors on the other, as to whether the second quality of Venus is the Hot or the Cold. I suspect that behind this disagreement lie significant differences in cultural attitudes toward women, which shaped opinions about Venus’s secondary quality. I take a different position, based on the ancient attributes of the four primary qualities: the two active qualities are the Hot and the Cold, and the two passive qualities are the Wet and the Dry. There is no question about the moistness of Venus. The energies of Venus connect, join, and relate what would otherwise be separate entities. At its best, this is the bond of love. Hot planets raise the energy level of anything they contact; Cold planets lower it. So, what does Venus do? It depends entirely on the context. If someone is feeling cold and lifeless, Venus is warming. If someone is feeling angry and irritable, Venus is cooling. Therefore, I suggest that Venus is simply Wet. It is neutral with respect to Hot and Cold.

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Venus is a nocturnal planet. After the Moon, it is the second most nocturnal planet (Mars being the third). However, there is abundant evidence from ancient astrology that the loving qualities of Venus and its moisture are more characteristic of Venus when it sets after the Sun in the evening, when it is known as the Evening Star. When it rises before the Sun in the morning and is in the Morning Star phase, it was considered by the Greeks to be debilitated (not entirely itself), and by the Babylonians to be a militant feminine deity rather than the goddess of love. This controversy has not been entirely resolved in modern astrology, but it is probably safe to say that most astrologers do not regard Venus as an especially militant planetary energy.

Ease or Difficulty of Dealing with Venus

I have already mentioned this above. If you ask the average astrologer whether Venus is an easy or difficult energy to handle, the answer often reflects the astrologer’s cultural biases. When I was younger and practiced in the city of Boston (which has not entirely recovered from its Puritan heritage, even among astrologers), you would hear lectures on Venus that made it seem as if Venus were a malefic, which it can be — as can any planet. On the other hand, most people are fond of the idea of love and loving; sex is an extremely popular activity that most people enjoy; and, to take one of Venus’s higher manifestations, most people have a high regard for music and the arts, which also fall under the purview of Venusian energy. I have already mentioned one of the downsides of Venus: it represents a kind of desire that can cause a great deal of suffering.

Function in the Natal Chart

Inward Manifestations

Along with the Moon, the energies of Venus are part of the complex that makes you feel that you belong in this world. Also, like the Moon, when the energies of Venus are working properly, love is given and received unconditionally. That quality alone explains why Venus is a nocturnal planet, because nocturnal energies operate without conditions. Where Venus differs from the Moon is that its moistness enables one to put things together, to create wholes out of parts, and to do so in such a way that they interact harmoniously and create something greater than any one part. This quality makes Venus not only connected to giving and receiving love, but also to all forms of artistic creativity and aesthetic judgment. People who have Venusian energies strongly emphasized in their charts may or may not be creative artists themselves, but they usually recognize artistic qualities and aesthetic beauty in the art they see or, in the case of music, hear.

It is true that the energies of Venus have a powerful side. They operate in such a manner that individual organisms subordinate their own survival interests for the sake of reproducing the species. I have at times referred to this as the “ruthless Venus.” An example is found in certain species of orchid that are fertilized by only one species of wasp. Once an individual wasp has picked up pollen from one blossom and enters another blossom, fertilizing it with pollen from the first, the wasp is trapped and cannot get out. This is a Venusian quality, at a certain level, with which most astrologers are unfamiliar. However, if one looks carefully at the lore of the mother goddess, one can see this quality in the mythology of certain mother goddesses. The energies of both the Moon and Venus are found in Mother Goddess mythology. In natal charts, however, this side of Venus is not typical unless other planets combine with Venus in ways that bring it out.

However, there is also a much higher side of Venus, described below, which is also not especially noted by astrologers.

Outward Manifestations

The external manifestations of Venus are quite straightforward. Venus signifies the arts, literature, and music. It signifies all objects produced by artistic activity, places where these are presented or displayed, schools that train people in these fields, and communities dominated by artists. Purely Venusian art tends to be polite and lyrical. The heavy beat found in popular music and the discordant harmonies sometimes found in classical music require the addition of other planetary energies, typically Mars and Pluto. Creative artists themselves are signified by Venus. So too are men and women who work in crafts where creative output is expected to be both aesthetically pleasing and useful.

It is only in modern times (the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries) that we tend to draw a sharp distinction between the artist and the craftsperson. In earlier times, as recently as the eighteenth century, the artist and the craftsperson were often one and the same person. Remember that Michelangelo decorated the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Johann Sebastian Bach cranked out music for Sunday services week after week after week. The idea of art for art’s sake is a very recent invention. That phrase first appeared in French sometime in the nineteenth century. It may be of interest to know that the Latin word ‘ars,’ from which the word ‘art’ is derived, means any kind of skill. In any case, Venus signifies both arts and crafts.

It is often stated that Venus is more closely associated with women than with men. The very symbol of Venus is used in biology as the symbol for the female gender. I would argue this is somewhat overstated, because elements of Venus and Mars are found in all human genders, although the dominant style of the feminine has traditionally been more appropriate to Venus than to Mars. One can debate endlessly whether this is culturally induced or has a completely natural origin.

Among living things, all decorative or ornamental flowers are signified by Venus. Among living things, plants are more Venusian than animals, and among animals, herbivores are more Venusian than carnivores.