Venus: From a Mythological and Symbolic Perspective

astrology
Written By Jasmine

As I’ve been on my astrology journey, one of the ways I’ve connected to the planets has been through their mythological and archetypal correspondences, accompanied by the symbolism astrologers use to describe what the planets signify.

With that in mind, this series of posts, where I’ll cover each planet in our solar system (plus Pluto), I’ll write about their mythology, archetypes, and some general symbolism, including my own observations.

In this post, I will focus on Venus.

[I will add to this post when I broaden my knowledge of myths, deepen my knowledge of the planets, and make new observations concerning them.]

The Mythology of Venus

Aphrodite

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (also known as Venus in Roman mythology) was either the daughter of Zeus and Dione or born after Kronos cut off and threw Ouranos’s genitals into the sea, where she rose through the foam on a large scallop shell. Either way, she was described as beauty itself and was the goddess “of erotic love, sexuality, and beauty. [...] she was associated with the fertility of humans and animals, the fertility of the soil, and the productiveness of plants” (Giesecke 2020). Aphrodite (and later Venus) shared characteristics with the Akkadian fertility goddess Ishtar, which is connected to the Sumerian fertility goddess Inanna:

“It was suspected even in antiquity that Aphrodite was not actually native to Greece. While the origins of Aphrodite and her cult are less than clear, it is generally conceded that Cyprus played a significant role in her genesis, likely the result of fusing Greek and Near Eastern influences. Through migrations and trade the region was exposed to new forms of fertility cult from Anatolia and the Levant during the Bronze Age (roughly 2500–1050 BCE): cults of the goddesses Ishtar and Astarte, both descended from the Mesopotamian Inanna. Aphrodite was likely a syncretization of these and, as such, adopted by the Greeks into their pantheon. The early importance of her sanctuaries on the Cyprus and Cythera in particular certainly influenced tales of the goddess’s birth” (Giesecke 2020).

Even though Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, she had regular affairs with other men behind his back. One of them was Ares, the god of war. With him, she gave birth to “Eros, who was known to the Romans as Amor or Cupid; Deimus (‘Fear’); Phobus (‘Panic’); and Harmonia (‘Harmony’)” (Giesecke 2020).

However, Aphrodite wasn’t a goddess only of sweet and beautiful things; she was also a jealous and vengeful goddess. When it became known to her that a woman called Psyche was deemed by many as the most beautiful woman in the world, Aphrodite sent her son Eros to make Psyche fall in love with a pig. After a turn of events that led Eros and Psyche to fall in love with each other instead, but Eros having fled after Psyche refused to follow his order of not looking at him, and accidentally burned him with a drop of oil from the lamp she had lit, Psyche came looking for Eros. To reunite with Eros, Aphrodite gave Psyche a few tasks she thought were impossible for the girl to solve.

When Eros one day heard of what his mother was doing to the woman he loved, he went to Olympus and told Zeus of what was going on. There, Zeus told Aphrodite that her position was not threatened, gave Psyche ambrosia to drink, which made her immortal, and then Eros and Psyche were reunited.

Other victims of Aphrodite were “Theseus’s son Hippolytus and his stepmother Phaedra, whom Aphrodite caused to fall tragically in love with him; Tyndareus, king of Argos, whose daughters—most infamous of them Clytemnestra, who killed her husband Agamemnon in his bath—all betrayed their husbands; the Cretan queen Pasiphae, who was overcome with lust for a bull; and the women of Lemnos, who would murder their male relatives” (Giesecke 2020).

As the goddess of love, however, she also helped others with their romantic pursuits, like “the heroes Hippomenes, who was smitten with the swift-footed huntress Atalanta; Jason, who so badly needed the help of the sorceress Medea to secure the Golden Fleece; and the Trojan prince Paris, who awarded her the golden apple that in turn earned him the beautiful Helen and thus became the cause of the Trojan War” (Giesecke 2020).

The Symbolism of Venus

General Overview

  • Domicile: Taurus & Libra

  • Detriment: Aries & Scorpio

  • Exaltation: Pisces

  • Fall/Depression: Virgo

  • Joy in the 5th House of Good Fortune

  • Venus spends approximately three and a half weeks in each sign.

Symbolism

Venus is a benefic planet that’s often, in modern astrology, reduced to being about love and beauty. But it’s also associated with companionship, friendship, partnership, etc. All kinds of relationships, really.

While love is only one facet, Venus is also connected to sex, pleasure, and desire, which may or may not have anything to do with love. Another side of that can be obsession.

Venus is also connected to art, artists, adornment, and crafts that connect with adornment, like jewelry, garments, spinning of gold threads, etc. Venus placements can also give us a clue as to what we find beautiful and what we’re attracted to. Not only in a partner, but also the kind of art we find beautiful, the topics that pique our interest, or our personal style or ways of self-expression, etc.

Venus is also connected to women, femmes, and the feminine. While women and the feminine are traditional significators, the topics of gender at large and equality for all are also highlighted. While Venus is signified by love and harmony, she’s also adamant in standing up for what she believes in. There’s an activist and human rights quality about her, which is often tied to topics like gender, sexuality, and equality for all, to name a few. This is why I also connect Venus to our values and integrity. Who or what do we love, or are willing to love enough, to stand up for them or it?

In traditional astrology, there are only two planets out of the traditional seven planets that are considered feminine in energy, which are the Moon and Venus. So these two planets have a lot of significations relating to women and the feminine jammed into them or assigned to them. There may be some overlapping significations when it comes to women and the feminine.

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Sources

Jasmine https://www.themultidisciplinarycreative.com/
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