Venus has been waiting patiently for her turn to speak. Rising silently from her scallop shell in the foamy ocean, the Goddess of Desire invites us to explore her multi faceted beauty. According to Greek legend, Venus /Aphrodite was conceived of scattered semen from Ouranos after he was castrated by his son Saturn. As a child of the sky god and the fertile sea womb, Venus emerged fully mature from primordial waters which mirror our instinctive desires to merge with love; be it the subjective desire of our imagination, or a real life object of our pursuit.
Venus has a deep mystical side, but she also symbolizes basic attractions. Even her astrological symbol looks strikingly like a hand held mirror, reminiscent of the maiden who admires herself. By necessity, her playing field is the realm of relationships, but Venus rules all aspects of love and attraction. The root definition of love is “fond desire” which has many aspects, including religious devotion as well as brotherly love. Venus’s domain is Eros, the quality of sexual passion and romantic love. Eros also contains a quality of relatedness. We most often think of falling in love with another person; but what about that of shoes you just have to own? The insatiable need comes from you, the buyer. Enticingly, though, the hypnotic power of attraction is fueled by perfectly styled smooth black leather shoes, the object of desire.
In modern astrology, Venus helps identify what is pleasing to us, as well as our style of drawing it in. Venus attracts primarily by magnetism. Mars, the red warrior planet reaches out in active pursuit, chasing after what he desires. Mars is related to our vital energy, enthusiasm, and the impulses to protect ourselves. Venus identifies with the object of her desire and works primarily to meet the needs of affection. Love fuels our sense of beauty, as well as appreciation for others; hence, the other representatives of Venus’ domain – art, music, and literature.
The arts are well tempered in Libra, one of the signs ruled by Venus. Balance, equality, sensibility, and relationships are all key words for Libra. Taurus, the sign so easily associated with spring fertility and nature is her other expression. Is it surprising that the apple is one of Aphrodite’s fruits? Most of us grew up with the story about Eve partaking of her forbidden delight. Venus is also represented by the tortoise, swallostyle, and cooing doves. Doves were symbolic of the female sexual organs to early pagans, and have been associated with feminine lore in countless other traditions. Swans were also sacred to Aphrodite. Zeus (father of Venus) took the shape of a swan when he made love to the mortal Ledo. Visualize the long graceful neck of a swan and its majestic white body. Metaphysically swans teach us how to open to our inner beauty and express it to the outer world. Swans are noted for their trait of choosing life long mates.
The Venus of Greek mythology was wedded but not committed to fidelity. This mother of Cupid ruled sexual love and instinctual behavior. Venus was married to Vulcan, a god of fire and metalwork who labored tirelessly to create perfectly manufactured objects that would please her. However, Venus was never able to honor Vulcan’s need for monogamy. She is linked to a succession of lovers, and was especially attracted to the fearsome god of war, Aries.
One often repeated story of the escapades of Venus and Aries tells of how Vulcan trapped the two lovers in bed with a magic net forged of gold chains. Once the helpless pair was secured in his palace on Mount Olympus, Vulcan called upon the other deities to witness the sight of the chained lovers. His intent was to embarrass Venus as punishment for her infidelity. Much to Vulcan’s dismay, most of the other gods were not swayed by this humiliating spectacle. Mercury stated that he would willingly change places with Mars to be allowed the pleasure of Venus’s company. And, the female goddesses, in solidarity with Venus, gave no support to Vulcan. In keeping with Piscean qualities of compassion and mystical love, Venus and Aries were finally released at the insistence of Neptune.
Venus shines prominently in the night sky, and even progresses through phases similar to the moon. She is almost equal to Earth in size and mass; but rotates clockwise, as opposed to earth’s counterclockwise movement. Given her visibility, it’s not surprising she plays such an important role in ancient cultures. The Mayans aligned their temple pyramids to the rising of celestial bodies, and used Moon/Venus cycles to calculate their interlocking sacred and secular calendars. Venus shines brightly in the sky as a morning or evening star but there are also periods of time when she is not visible from earth. This cycle holds a key to deeper understanding of how feminine power has been diminished as male dominated warring cultures gained ascendancy.
Some of our earliest surviving myths come from the Sumerian culture (approximately 2000 BCE) in the area known today as Iraq. The Sumerian goddess Inanna, is an early Venus archetype. Inanna of the Morning Star had to journey to the underworld where she was trapped and rendered naked and defenseless. Only by her cunning and strength does she gain release. Another early Venus-star deity is Ishtar, who also travels in the underworld to bring back her lover Tammuz. After a terrifying ordeal, she is returned to the land of the living because the other gods cannot abide even their utopian existence without a goddess of love. Ishtar returns to reign as the Queen of Heaven, though without her lover, Tammuz.
Sadly, our early mother goddesses have lost some strengths as they were assimilated and diluted through Greek and then Roman world view. Early Venus-star goddesses were strong willed queens who integrated their power through a heroic descent to the underworld. Venus has retained her allure and sexuality, but Queen Ishtar has been fatally boiled down to Marilyn Monroe; a vision of beauty, but not of personal strength. The “heavy lifting” still gets brought to the table, but now by other personifications of human struggles, such as Pluto and Persephone. Isn’t it telling that both Ishtar and Inanna were stripped naked while in the underworld? Love surely has the power to reveal our true essence. Common to all ages, the need for love is one of our most powerful human drives. The transformational power of love remains eternal, and of course we enjoy the fruits of Venus as we know her; in relationships and other pleasures that make the world go ’round.
