We all know Venus is the goddess of love. In our charts she indicates
our romantic style, our tastes in adorning ourselves and decorating our
personal space. She is also related to money and valuables. Her signs, Taurus
and Libra, rule the second and seventh houses of the zodiac. In both of
these roles, Venus is about what we value. And when we look more closely,
we realize her true function is to rule self-worth--good old self-esteem.
As second house ruler, she is in charge of what we value. This may be money,
jewels, and property. It may be ideals or knowledge. Nevertheless, if we
don't value ourselves, we don't get what we value!
In her role as seventh house ruler this is even more apparent. The seventh
house rules committed relationships. It also rules open enemies! To a very
large extent, the success of our relationships with others depends upon
our own self-valuation. If we overvalue self--if we are puffed up with arrogance,
our relationships will suffer. If we don't value self enough, our relationships
will offer us only the little we believe we are worth.
In Hindu mythology there is an interesting tale about Venus. She is
considered the ruler of the demonic realm. (Jupiter is ruler of the gods.)
Venus adores pleasure. She wants to see others enjoy themselves, too. As
a result, she frequently gives great boons to those who aren't really worthy
of receiving them. These people will then misuse these gifts, and can end
up in worse shape than before they received them! (Just think of the lottery
winners whose lives were ruined by the unexpected riches.) For this reason,
Venus is also associated with disappointment!
In the mythology of Babylonia, Venus again wears two faces. In this
story, she is the Morning Goddess and the Evening Goddess. The Babylonians
were great observers of the sky, and as they watched Venus move forward,
then retrograde and seem to disappear into the the Sun, the re-emerge on
the other side only to disappear behind the Sun on her return, they associated
a complex story with her emergence and disappearances. As she moved into
the Sun, the gentle evening-star Venus, as the goddess Ishtar, descended
into the underworld, feasting on corpses and then re-emerged, drenched with
blood and gore, as the morning star--goddess of war. Babylonians planned
wars and aggressive actions to coincide with periods of Venus rising. People
born with Venus as evening star have a tendency to be more passive and gentle
than those born with Venus rising. The morning star gives a more aggressive
element to the Venusian qualities.
Far away, on the American continent, the Mayan calendar was entirely
based on the Venus cycle!
The planet Venus is one of Earth's nearest neighbors. Sometimes our
Venusian responses are so close to home that we are quite blind to them.
If you've ever had an argument with a roommate about decorating an apartment,
look to conflicting Venus signs between your charts. Taste is quite individual,
and Venus is arbiter of taste, of social interactions, and of pleasure.
All text and lineart in these pages Copyright
1997-99 by Anne Beversdorf
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