posted June 01, 2003 11:33 AM            

KEYWORDS: Harmony, Unison, Love

VENUS represents pleasure, the enjoyment of relationships, loving and caring. It helps us to decide what is relevant to our well being and happiness, what is irrelevant, and what is bad. It’s the urge to seek companionship and love to feel good about ourselves, so it has to do with self-esteem. Venus is the subconscious desire to form unions with others, and is our willingness to co-operate. It also allows us to enjoy the things that bring pleasure - aesthetically as well as physically. It’s not a highly energetic drive, but one that enables us to seek relatedness.

In astrology Venus rules both Taurus & Libra and the houses with these signs on the cusp. It’s also concerned with love and personal relationships, and with the feminine side of our nature, as well as with art and fashion. Venus encourages gentleness, friendliness, tact and the social graces – but under stress its influence can make us indecisive, careless, over-romantic, and over-dependant on other people

In myth Venus was associated with the Great Goddess.
In Sumeria, the earliest Mesopotamian civilisation, she was Innana and her lover was Dumuzi.
In Babylon she was Ishtar and her son-lover was Tammuz.
In these Mesopotamian myths her son/lover dies and as the Great Goddess she goes into the underworld and rescues him.
In Egypt she was Isis, the partner of Osiris.
As a morning star Venus heralded new life and the day, and as an evening
star she revealed the mysteries of the night.
The death of her lover may have sometimes represented the onset of winter.
The Great Mother is reflected in the later Greek story of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades into the underworld. Her mother mourned and nothing grew on Earth until Persephone was allowed to return above ground each spring.

Often proclaimed as the Goddess of love and beauty, the Greek Aphrodite (Venus) was a far more powerful, vengeful goddess famous for her orgiastic rites and her vanity. Some say Aphrodite was the daughter of Uranus. Venus, the legendary beauty, inherited the attributes of Aphrodite, and so she became the Goddess of love – ideal, familial and sexual. In the grounds of her temples were groves in which worshippers could make love.

Friday is the day of Venus

Psychologically the function of Venus is to unify and harmonise and gives us the power to
perceive differences as well as similarities. Venus reveals how we relate to other people, what kind of relationships we like. Some like intensity, others prefer more light-hearted contacts. But the tough side should not be forgotten as we experience both love and battle in relationships, the depths of sorrow and grief as well as the joys.
Venus is also about our ability to make value judgements, our expression of affection, money, pleasure activities and what pleases us. Value judgement comes into this of course, because we have to be able to differentiate between pleasure and pain in order to experience pleasure. So Venus allows us to say "do I like this?" and make a value judgement on it! What might Taurean Venus like that is different to Libran Venus? Think about the similarities and the differences.

The position of Venus in the natal chart by aspect, sign and house shows in what way we
express our feelings towards others; the measure of sociability, the strength of our desire to
form partnership. Venus tells part of the story of the kind of person we are attracted to, what
we bring to a union and what brings us pleasure.

The power of Venus is felt most strongly from the time of adolescence when awareness of
sexuality develops and when a conscious need for a partner is growing. This is the period of
romantic love when outward appearance, grooming and dress become all important. Venus
relates to the force of attraction.

Venus overemphasised can lead to excessive expression of sexuality and pleasure seeking
without any sense of responsibility. Alternatively we can become over anxious to please
forgetting our own needs. Where the Venus principle is lacking or stifled, it may be difficult to
express love and affection easily or to make satisfactory partnerships on any level.

Venus also can reflect our cultural and artistic tastes whether these are modern or traditional.
It is the planet most concerned with the arts and crafts and may throw light on what talents we
have such as singing, dancing, carpentry, painting, gardening etc. Taste in clothes and interior
design are symbolised by Venus.

In social and mundane astrology Venus relates to young women and women in
general. It usually relates to wives and partners in men’s chart, amongst other astrological
symbols.
Venus symbolises the arts and culture, the entertainment’s industry, glamour, fashion, film
stars, musicians, jewellers, interior decorators, gardeners, artists and so on. Venus has been linked to farming, banking and financial institutions. Purses, jewellery, make-up all come under the realm of this planet.
Places linked with Venus are art galleries, dancing schools, beauty parlours, hairdressers,
gardens, fountains, bedrooms, bridal chambers and wardrobes.

The Planets and Psychology
The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars are known as the Personal Planets as they
describe personality. They can be seen as psychological principles, sub-personalities or drives
within us. These planets travel relatively quickly. On average the Moon passes through one
Zodiac sign every two and a half days, the Sun once a month with Mercury and Venus close by. Mars spends nearly 2 months on average in one sign. They move fast enough to create
substantial individual differences in the horoscopes of people born within days or even hours
of each other.

The average distance of Venus from the Sun is 67.2 million miles
It’s Orbital Period (time taken to orbit the Sun) is 225 days
Astronomically, Venus is referred to as an “inferior” planet - that is, it’s orbit lies between those of the Earth and the Sun. Its maximum distance from the Sun as seen from the Earth is 48 degrees so it’s often visable at night.
Core Energies of Personal Planets
Personal planets are those that closely orbit the Sun and in astrology include the astrological Sun, which means conscious awareness of identity. We tend to be aware of these energies because they are the ones on which we 'operate' in daily life. We call the core meaning an 'archetype', in other words a 'model of meaning' and we all have the same archetypal energies, moderated by our 'expectations' - sign position and what the signs mean. Because the personal planets are close to the Sun, we tend to be able to identify them more easily and can work with them so as to have more opportunities to adapt and express them positively. The more distant the planet from the Sun, the deeper it is in the unconscious side of us.

As you go through your daily life, try to connect to the "core type" of energy that you express each day. When you feel argumentative, what is it you are expressing? Well of course, it's your Mars. When you feel loving and generous, it's your Venus. When you want to be noticed, your Sun wants to shine! As you go through your day you will find that there will be phases, or even days that seem to be dominated by one of these planets. If you have your chart and an Ephemeris, you can look up the personal planets' positions for the day and see if they are in a position where they make a contact with a planet in your chart, i.e., if they are in the same degree number. Don’t worry too much about those at the moment though, as we’ll learn more about these contacts in Lanny’s lessons about transits.

posted June 01, 2003 11:45 AM            

Here's a list I've already done for you. See if you can add to it.....

Keywords & Associations for the planet Venus.

Charm
Beauty
Roses
Perfume
The Arts
Beauty Salons
Love Affair
Flowers
Sweet
Creativity
Actors
Film Stars
Taurus (the sign)
Libra (the sign)
Aphrodite
Love
Friday
Art Galleries
Jewellery
Jewellers
Gentleness
Throat
Taste Buds
Swans
Fruit Trees
Mint (the herb)
Asparagus
Apples
Grapes
Pink (the colour)
Copper (the metal)
Social Attitudes & Behaviour
Aesthetic Tastes
Female Relationships
Social Interactions
Romance
Marriage
Partnerships
Pursuit of Pleasure

posted June 02, 2003 08:58 AM            

Hi Heidi
Don't worry - we already have a lot of words to work with. We'll be covering aspects in a couple of lessons time - so hopefully your Venus will become much clearer to you

posted June 02, 2003 11:46 AM              

- Where is the delineation in the arts between a Venusian and a Neptunian influence? Or is there one?
- Are there different rulerships for different "kinds" of love? For instance, would you say that Venus rules romantic love while maybe Neptune rules Agape love, or can such distinctions not be drawn?

posted June 02, 2003 02:20 PM            

Without getting too much "into" Neptune for now (as we'll be covering that in more detail later on in the course). Here's a couple of things for you to think about.....

Venus is a "personal planet" (as are the Sun, Moon, Mercury & Mars). The Personal Planets describe personality. They can be seen as psychological principles, sub-personalities or drives within us.

Now....
Neptune is a "generational planet" (as are Uranus & Pluto). Neptune takes on average 13 years to pass through a sign ie: for approx 13 years - everyone born in that period would have Neptune in the same sign. Generational planets (Neptune, Uranus & Pluto) show trends and developments. Uranus symbolises developments in technology and science, in innovations and revolutionary protest or reform movements. Neptune has been associated with fashion trends, communism and the welfare state and subtle dissolution of outgrown structures. With Pluto the status quo will never be the same again as outdated attitudes and assumptions, or ways of doing things, have to die before a rebirth can take place.
These three planets are often called the transpersonal planets because the changes they symbolise on their journeys through the Zodiac signs are broad sweeping sometimes seemingly acting against our personal interests for the greater good of the whole.

Age related experiences, known to psychologists, such as the rebellious teenage years, taking on responsibilities during the late 20s, the mid life period and retirement are clearly seen in the
cycles of the slower moving planets around the Sun.

Ok.....
So back to keywords you mentioned. Think about this.....

In esoteric astrology, Neptune has been referred to as the higher octave of Venus whereby personal love is transformed into universal love. Psychologically Neptune represents our vision of perfection, our dreams and ideals. Neptune can also represent our fantasy world, imagination and escape routes from reality which occur in sleep and dreaming. There are many ways of finding escape routes some of which are life enhancing and others potentially damaging. We may escape through glamour and gloss, drugs or alcohol, through theatre or cinema, through artistic expression and through religious or mystical experience.

So can you see how Neptune can actually:-

Cloud our Venus's judgement.
Stimulate our imagination and fantasies as to what real love should be etc

posted June 02, 2003 06:29 PM              

Venus is a really interesting planet (tech-babble here but it might prove interesting)

- NASA pic from the 1990 Magellan mission. This has been colour treated so it's as accurate as they can manage.

Without its atmosphere it looks like a darn scary place.

Its surface is hot enough to melt lead (850 Farenheit) - hot enough for the surface to glow dull red.

The atmosphere is so thick at ground level it would be like swimming, and even a gentle breeze would knock you over - the pressure down there is 95 times that of earths' sea-level pressure.

The atmosphere is mostly made from a nasty concoction of gases - predominantly Carbon Dioxide (97%)

Another interesting fact about venus is the fact the planet has NO magnetic field - its atmosphere is getting blown away by solar wind from the sun. Its estimated its been depleted by about 20% since venus formed.

posted June 02, 2003 07:04 PM            

Neptune as you rightly say is "depersonalized".

Neptune is idealistic, dreams, fanasties...so could say "I love you because you my "perfect" man/woman.....you have no flaws (translate that to....there are flaws but my Neptune does not/will not want to see them) ......you are my dream come true etc etc. Neptune has a tendency to wear "rose coloured glasses" and wants the fairy tale ending.

Re: Art....
Venus = beauty (amongst the other keywords we've listed) There is tremendous beauty/pleasure in art.....painting, music etc
Neptune introduces the fantasy side to the art...if that makes sense?

posted June 02, 2003 07:12 PM            

Re: "I've always found it interesting how such a violent planet is associated with love".

posted June 03, 2003 12:44 AM              

Seduction
Florists
Decoration
Love Poetry
Hors d'oeuvres
Massage
Valentines, and St. Valentine's Day
Thank-you notes
Small gifts
Guessing games
Accessories
Winking
Eyelashes (fluttering!)
Mona Lisa smile
Well-groomed
Smiles
Dimples
Cleft (in chin; very Libran!)
Satin
Lace
Deep down pillows

posted June 03, 2003 02:43 PM            

Mars is how we go and get what we want. If you think that Mars = action, that's a good way to remember it. Mars and Venus always like to "play together" ...can't have one without the other. Venus could sit at home very lonely, knowing what she wants but without Mars... (who'll say..."Well don't just sit there do something about it...go get that man/woman/dress/hairstyle etc etc" ) ...Venus could end up being very unfulfilled....and then Neptune could "kick in" and your whole love life could become a fantasy/dream that never happens.

As a rough guide (for now) think of the Sun as being our ego, our core, our identity - the Sun is where we like to shine.

posted June 03, 2003 03:02 PM            

Hey Sunshyne

Hi 1Scorp
Great to see you here
Just ask away if you have any questions

Sue