Venus – Basics

Venus is the planet of wealth, beauty, the arts, femininity, sweets, comforts, romance, and love. In the house of friends, it can represent that this is a person with attractive or artistic friends. In the house of siblings, this likely will indicate sisters. In the house of children, this will likely indicate a person who has daughters. Venus is naturally benefic and blesses the house that it resides in and the house it aspects. All planets aspected by Venus will benefit from her aspect.

Her Sanskrit name is Sukra. She is the natural karaka (ruler) of love. When interpreting a chart for love and marriage, Venus must be considered.

Venus also can be an indicator of wealth, which surprised me when I first began to study astrology. I found that while Venus definitely relates to money, she is better considered as money spent on leisure, entertainment, luxury, comforts, cars, jewelry (beautiful objects) and larger appliances. In practice, I've had better success in predicting when I would be likely to spend money on beautifying my surrounds than when my money supply actually increased.

Another important thing of note for her, she represents the younger women in your life. Where the Moon represents the more maternal women, or women in roles of authority above you, Venus represents your female peers and as you age, younger women.

Venus matures in the 25th year (ages 24-25) and should reach full strength in your life at that time. Venus's day is Friday, date night for the western world. Her direction is Southeast. Her metal is Silver, and her gemstone is Diamond; wear these two to heighten or magnify her effects in your life.

The most important thing to remember when interpreting with Venus is that she functions abnormally well in Grief Producing Houses, also called Dusthanas or Evil Houses (6th, 8th, and 12th). We'll cover more of that in the Unique Rule section below.

Significations of Venus

In the section below we are going to discuss how Venus manifests itself into your life. Just like in the previous learning modules, these significations will be put through a lens, either negative or positive, based on how Venus is placed and aspected. If she is well supported, place that positive filter on the significations below. An example of this would be Venus in the 1st house, aspected by Jupiter. This is a great placement that indicates the person will be beautiful and gifted artistically. This person would likely have a never ending line of romances and live a comfortable life. In contrast, if Venus is in the 1st house and aspected by Saturn, we have a completely contrasting situation. This person is likely to still be attractive and artistic, but the energy would be repressed, restricted. This could be someone that really ages well. This person in contrast is also likely to have few romances (likely their choice) and live in more spartan conditions.

A Gracious House Guest – a Unique Rule

Have you ever known someone that just was the perfect person to have over? Imagine the sweetest, kindest, and prettiest of friends. She always seems to soften the mood around her. This is Venus. And in practice, she functions very well in the Grief Producing Houses, the 6th, 8th and 12th. For whatever reason, where other planets lose their beneficence and others their power, Venus performs mostly unaffected by these houses. Here are some examples…

Venus in the 6th – The Sixth House is a house of labor, daily work, enemies, competitors, victory & defeat, health, healing ability, hospitals, appetite, prison,etc. Obviously there are many ways that this could go, but that is beyond the scope of this module. So, in this scenario we have set, this vacuum, Venus would likely bring daily work on artistic or musical projects. If neither of those are true, the person will then work in a female dominated environment. This person would be protected from enemies and competitors, sometimes even unaware that they exist or are competing with him. This person will let enemy aggression roll of his back and largely not be impacted by it. The person is also likely to be healthy sexually and enjoy sweets.

Venus in the 8th – The Eighth House is the house of secrets, secret activities, sex, magick, astrology, all things occult, spies, prostitutes, strippers, and all things taboo. Venus in a vacuum when placed here can indicate a person with romantic secrets, secret lovers, a passionate sex life, an inclination toward the taboo and the occult. This can also manifest as dating and marrying a secretive person. Or on the inverse of this, it could be the person marries a stripper, a prostitute, or an addict/alcoholic. One of the more positive meanings of this placement is that it can indicate a person with a lot of sexual magnetism. It will also give a natural talent in magick, hypnotism, mesmerism, and other occult arts.

Venus in the 12th – The 12th House is the house of spirituality, meditation and mantras, the bed, pleasures of the bed, debt, secret enemies, theft, and all things otherworldly and spiritual. Venus in a vacuum here can make the person spiritual, gain enjoyment from isolation and meditation, have a beautiful and comfortable bed and have an enjoyable sex life. If Venus is not negative here, I would expect the person to have a healthy amount of debt (not overwhelming in other words) on beautiful conveyances, vehicles, and other luxuries and comforts. If Venus is negative, I would expect overwhelming debt spent on vacations, entertainment, and luxury assets outside the person's means. It all depends on the aspects and sign placement. This person is also likely to attract a spiritual spouse and partner.

The real key to knowing if Venus will act poorly in these houses is first, whether she is aspected by anything malefic or benefic and second, which sign she is in. This will be the difference between good and bad results. If she is unaspected, view her in a mildly positive light. 

Aspects

In the section below, we will discuss how Venus aspects the other planets. Her touch is a gentle and happy one! She is one of the great benefic planets! She also is one of the simpler planets when it comes to aspects. She only aspect the 1st House (a conjunction) and the 7th House (an opposition) from her.

7th House Aspect

Venus aspects the house that is opposite from it.

In the example above, Venus aspects the house opposite from it and the ascendant degree by a little over 11 degrees. This is a wonderful aspect despite the negative placement of Venus in Virgo, its fallen placement. So, while it is Fallen in the 7th House in this case, it is also aspecting back to the 1st House in Pisces, its Exalted placement. This is clearly a very positive thing. So what's the deal? Well… I think this is a part of what makes Astrology so wonderful, harmony… balance. Even the worst of placements for a planet still have a positive side!

1st House Aspect

Venus aspects the house in which it resides.

In the example above, Venus aspects the house in which she resides, that means everything in the sign of Virgo… and in this case Mercury. Like in the example above, Venus is still fallen. But this exchange of aspects between Venus and Mercury greatly benefits Venus, as she is graced with an Exalted aspect from Mercury. Mercury in this case will be harmed by negative Venus energy. That Fallen energy has to impact it in some way. But then it will also benefit from Venus's aspect… Because even though she is Fallen, she is still a benefic. Benefics, even when poorly placed, will provide mildly positive results.

Rulership and Placement Disposition

In the section below, we'll show you how Venus interacts with the signs and the planets that rule them.

Venus's relationship to the signs.

Exalted

The Exalted placement for Venus is in the sign of Pisces, with the highest point of Exaltation being at exactly 27°. Like with the planets before it, it gradually grows in how Exalted it is the closer that it gets to 27 degrees, the Degree of Exaltation. Venus functions extremely well in the sign of Pisces, giving the best results she can give by placement alone when her energy is there.

Moolatrikona

Venus is Moolatrikona in the fist 20 degrees of the Sign of Libra. Her energy is very positively expressed in these degrees.

Own Sign

Venus owns two signs and naturally functions very well in her own spaces. She is considered Own Sign while placed after 20 degrees in the sign of Libra and throughout the entire sign of Taurus.

Friend

All planets like other planets and function well in their homes (houses). Venus is friendly with Mercury and Saturn and is comfortably placed in the signs they own: Gemini and Capricorn/Aquarius respectively. If Venus is placed in these signs, it is considered naturally positive for its significations.

Neutral

The signs not colored are considered neutral for Venus, meaning they neither negatively or positively impact her by placement. In this case, Venus is neither friend nor enemy to Mars and Jupiter. Venus functions neutrally in their signs of Aries/Scorpio and Sagittarius respectively (Remember Venus is Exalted in Pisces).

Enemy

Just like all planets have friends, they also have enemies or planets that don’t welcome their presence in their homes or signs. These planets are considered enemies. Venus is enemies with the Moon and the Sun. Venus functions negatively in their signs, Cancer and Leo respectively.

Fallen

Venus is extremely poorly placed in the Sign of Virgo. She is considered wasted in the Spartan conditions that Virgo represents natally.

What was covered…

• We introduced Venus.
• We described what Venus indicates in the section titled The Significations of Venus.
• We introduced how Venus functions well in Grief Producing Houses in the section titled, A Gracious House Guest – a Unique Rule.
• We went in depth on how Venus aspects other planets and provided examples to illustrate how it works in the section titled Aspects.
• We described how Venus functions throughout the zodiac and described her Exaltation, Moolatrikona, Own Sign, Friend, Neutral, Enemy and Fallen placements in the section titled Rulership and Placement Disposition.