Venus Consoling Cupid, Stung by a Bee – Benjamin West

Planets and Signs are Archetypes. Astrology is an art that considers the microcosm in relation to the macrocosm. That isn’t a modern idea. It’s an ancient one. So when we talk of the astrological Venus we refer to a rich matrix of attributes, each of which will manifest according to her Sign, her placement and her relationship to other planets and luminaries.

The glyph for Venus consists of the circle of Spirit, having precedence over the cross of matter. In medicine and in all the biological sciences it is still the symbol for the feminine. Venus is the Ruler of both Taurus and Libra. In this article, I will be focusing on what I will call the Taurean Venus. This is her Earthly domicile. She is very much at home here, so it affords an opportunity for discussion of this particular expression of the Venus archetype

Taurus is a fixed earth sign and here Venus is the Earth Mother or womb from whose energy the earth receives the beauty of the natural world, as well as the comforts and pleasures it may afford. In Taurus, Venus is in her dignity and is best described as the voluptuary, a lover of physical, earthly beauty. This is the embodiment of Eros.

As the Sun waxes in Taurus, the Earth is green and full of new life. Venus delights in beauty, including the arts of poetry, dance, music and visual art.  She’s the creative force that bringing new life through erotic love as well as procreation. She rules the sense of touch. In Classical Astrology, she is naturally said to take her joy in the fifth house.

Venus was identified in tradition as the daughter of the Moon. The Moon and Venus are both reflective, feminine archetypes in the chart.

Venus is more than the figure of Aphrodite can describe. In Classical mythology she was a powerful, but potentially treacherous deity.

Lucretia Borgias by Lucas Cranach- A Darker Side of Eros gone awry. Cranach did a few paintings on the same theme, But here there is some ambiguity. Lucretia committed suicide but had poisoned countless people. She has been considered as an erotic serial killer .

The metal associated with Venus is copper. We know that copper is widely used in the cosmetic industry!  In alchemy, Venus is externally beautiful and highly receptive, but with a corrosive core.

The Venus cycle corresponds to the gestation period and underscores her role as bringer of life.

Lakshmi – The Hindu Goddess of Wealth & Beauty

In Babylonian tradition she was a “star” in a trinity with the Moon and Sun. She was at one time personified as the Great Goddess who gave birth to the Sun, and at other times known as Lucifer, the light-bearing attendant to the Sun.

As River and Gillespie have written, the deities associated with Venus in the Ancient Near East were “active initiators, for they brought in the day, awakening solar vitality. As the gentle and loving Evening Star, Venus was Zib, Hesperus and Shalem,said to speak the Word of Peace nightly to the Sun, giving the Hebrew and Arabic word for peace, shalom and salaam.

As Evening Star, Venus returns to the lunar world of the imagination.” (The Knot of Time. p. 79). It is easy then to see her connection to the idealistic,  spiritualized love of Pisces, the sign of her own exaltation.

The Venus element in the natal chart is a place of potential vibrancy and sensual delight. An unafflicted Venus in the fifth house can produce great artistic ability. Venus in the same house but afflicted and in a different sign, may signal no more than a profligate gambler.

In other cultures, such as India the equivalent of Ishtar, Aphrodite and Venus is revered as the Goddess Rati and as the Tantric Goddess Shakti. However. the most Venusian Hindu Goddess is Lakshima, particularly in relation to the Taurean Venus

The Hindu god Krishna Surrounded by Ladies – British Museum

In the painting above the god Krishna is enjoying the sensuality of earthly life. Many of the attributes of this painting seen quite Taurean to me.