I often describe Venus as our body in a dream state – how it gently moves itself through the night to put itself into greater balance and comfort. Venus is that which puts into balance all that isn’t yet. This reminds us that balance is not static, it is dynamic and ever moving to adjust all into harmony. The higher expression of the Venus energy isn’t about extremes – it is about this gentle movement towards balance and harmony; it is the meeting place of trust and faith, the point of time of both sunrise and sunset, when the sun kisses the arms of dawn and the moon kisses the arms of dusk.
Venus gets her full realization in formlessness, in the complete dissolution of everything – to show us that true beauty is the internal beauty, that true wealth is the wealth of devotion, and that once the inner wild lands are in harmony all else external inevitably will be also. This also refers to relationships – as deep love and deep intimacy happen through the merging of souls and paths, in the complete dissolution of boundaries, where we peel the false layers of ourselves, to become more authentic with one another and more selfless in our love; where we can see the other person for who they truly are, and can give to them what they need rather than what we want to be given in turn.
Venus is a feminine sphere of consciousness – meaning that it is focused towards emotional and intuitive development, and the nourishment of our soils and inner nature, so that we can create even more beauty and love into the world. Venus is nature itself and the waters which pour onto the lands to birth flowers, fruits and all life; she is that which nourishes us and the movements which sustain our bodies, which is why she rules the earthly 2nd house – which is a healing house connected to nature, food, pleasure, the senses, and all movements, such as food intake, through which we sustain and nourish our body.
In her essence, Venus is at her essence about freedom. She is the woman who walks barefoot even on the cobblestone streets, is playful and has fun, swims in the rain, and dances wholeheartedly. Venus is nature itself – she is the soil, the deep wells, the lakes and rivers, the sunset and sunsets, she is all that inspires and nurtures us into the hands of love.
Venus represents love and is the karaka of the fourth house, which is the home of the heart. When we express ourselves through the house and sign of our natal Venus, we open our heart and touch the heart of others because we are naturally flowing through that energy.
For example, if your natal Venus is in the third house, then it is through words that you will bring more love into this world and change humanity for the better; there is perhaps something really beautiful in the way you express yourself and especially if it is in a water sign, that creative expression through both the written and spoken word would be activating the heart’s of others.
Some people may have harder aspects to their Venus, but no matter how difficult it is for them to do, they should try; they should try to learn and to push themselves to express their love and feelings towards others in an open and gentle way. If you find yourself in that position where this is hard for you do, just try little by little: say you appreciate someone, compliment them, give to them, focus on the positive and find something beautiful in each person rather than criticising or judging, and when you love someone, say you love them despite it being difficult or uncomfortable to say – because this will open your heart, allowing more love to flow in, and this will also open your Venus consciousness.
Compassion, tenderness, joy, forgiveness, and openness, are all just different shapes of love, different movements of love, different speeds of love. When we express them through our actions, we become fully embodied in love, rather than only ideas and thoughts about love, like clouds flowing the sky. We have to be able to build love, contain love and emit love.
Essentially, Venus is a world inspired and motivated by the inner language of emotion, intuition, harmony, beauty, and inspired creativity. She is that which moves us to be more gentle in life, to walk with grace and patience and be open enough with the wisdom of our heart to see the true beauty of all things and people.
The Venus symbol, ♀, is a circle with a small cross below it, representing her higher spiritual essence, i.e. transcending physical matter (as the cross symbolizes matter). She is here to experience herself through the senses but she is also here to see beyond them – to understand the spiritual purpose of each of them, and come into her spiritual essence and higher knowledge. Ultimately, she is here to bring unity and show people how all is interconnected, interdependent, and we are all within the one, symbolized by her circle.
Some people also connect her symbol to her polished copper mirror, as Venus rules copper and would often be portrayed with a copper mirror in paintings, thereby showing that we can only reach spiritual growth through our willingness to self reflect; the path out is in, the path of transcendence is through the inner realm, because the heart is the initiatory pathway to higher consciousness. Venus is connected to the earth, our five senses, yet she knows how to see beyond them and understands deeply their higher spiritual purpose.
Venus is what makes forms round, which is why she rules round fruits such as cherries. She is that which softens us and makes us inspired to move and speak in more gentle ways, with compassion, tenderness and sweetness. She is the hands of the sea waves, and how they smooth the roughest edges of all stones and rocks at the shore, softening them.
Venus softens hearts and minds and hands, and this is what opens us to experience deeper connections with one another – this is what sustains long lasting and healthy relationships: the ability to communicate in gentle and appropriate ways, and the ability to understand one another’s inner worlds with intentional listening and opening of palms to give to one another as we become more selfless and generous.
Art by Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus, 1863.
In esotericism Venus rules the high heart. The high heart is basically the heart energy in a higher octave of love generating the so-called holy emotions of love. When it’s activated, the entire energy body changes, which is known as the Venus body; what was once dense in fears, worries, doubts, wounds and uncertainties, suddenly spreads into waves and we understand and see beyond the many veils.
The high heart is what connects us to God and moves us towards our soul growth. In this way, the higher expression of Venus serves to uplift us in our human experience to love deeper, connect deeper to one another, communicate in meaningful ways learning the art of communication, to feel more purposeful in life, to express beauty and love in more ways, to become the stable vessels through which inspired creativity flows through our body continuously and more easily.
In ancient scriptures is also written of the beautiful principle of the relationship between Venus and the Sun. It was written that Venus steps down into the Sun’s energy, or wavelength, to take it all within herself, and then expresses it into many mesmerizing colours for us to experience the Sun’s life force energy. In a way, Venus is an intermediary to the Sun’s clarity and wisdom; she re-creates the powerful solar energy into vibrations that are more easily manageable, accessible and allows us to receive them.
The higher expression of the Venusian consciousness understands that all of the external material in our world is simply a reflection of our inner world, because material manifestations are impermanent, and often times, they are a distraction from the things that can really be trusted and loved in our present moment, through the high heart. Like the little prince said, what’s true is only seen with the heart. With this understanding of impermanence, and yet eternity and immortality of love, Venus loves to change; as rose petals change, as water flows freely and changes from rainwater to river to sea to vapour to life as the air we breathe; and yet each change serves only as a new way of consciousness to experience itself, in a new shape or form, while remaining true to its inner essence of love.
This reminds us of the eternal virgin energy, which is what the higher expression of the feminine energy is. The eternal virgin interacts with the external world, and yet she doesn’t allow her true essence to fundamentally change nor be shifted by anything or anyone outside of her. She reminds us that no matter what happens in our life, and how many twists and turns we make or life takes us through, we can always choose to tap into our true nature of love, and not allow anyone or anything to change our heart. She reminds us that even if people hurt us or judge us, nothing can take away our true essence, our ability to love and to be love; that every day we make a choice about who we want to be, and what action to take, choosing between love or fear; that if we don’t like someone we can just move away peacefully; that we can love and love and love again, because a heart’s love is never-ending. And that there, along our way, will always be people who will love us just as much.
Born from foam, Venus, also known as Aphrodite, surrendered in the arms of her beloved God of sea. She realized the meaning of love, a gift that comes from true and complete surrender. In this gift unveiled an even greater gift, the one of unity of soul, body and heart was created. When our heart is open, we are peaceful. When we allow our heart to move us, every decision we make begins to feel right. And in this new consciousness, there is meaning, there is connection, there is love.
Art by Jacopo de’ Barbari, Mars and Venus, circa 1510-1512.
Venus is that which tames the three big boys Mars, Saturn and Pluto. For Venus, Mars takes off his armour to show his true heart and vulnerability. Mars desires to court Venus – he is that within us which goes after what we desire, which is often our natal Venus. And yet through her higher expression of love, Mars becomes no longer just a warrior with untamed fires and immaturity – Mars becomes a lover, protector with integrity aligned to higher values, and he inspires to emotionally mature. His goal is now not merely to just fight and be impulsive – he has a higher calling now, protecting those he loves. The higher expression of Mars is the one who has integrity, courage, sensitivity to others, compassionate leadership, provides for his loved ones and is self responsible and accountable.
Saturn too finds meaning and purpose in the eyes of Venus because now he has a reason for his hard work – he desires to provide for her, take care of her, give her stability and a home where she unveils in her freedom and beauty. She soothes his worries and smoothes his own edges, and with him she feels safe and loved and taken care of. With him she has the stability she needs to be her self.
As for Pluto, well, this prince likes staying in his undergrounds as we know – but the only time he usually reaches his hands through the soil is when he is tempted by love, by Venus. And he reaches his hands through the soil for merging. He sees the beauty, innocence and purity of heart and acceptance he has always been longing for. Pluto is that which we hide within – our inner shadows and all undealt with things, unacknowledged things, and all we don’t want to face within ourselves. But these are all our inner prisons because they keep us away from being our higher self. And yet we all know – love makes us want to be better people, to aspire to be better for those we love, and intimacy can only happen when we are fully open to another. Venus frees Pluto. Because of the love he feels inspired through her he becomes more courageous to face himself and become a better man.
The higher expression of Venus is heart-centered, knowing the truth that the divine resides in our heart.
In Vedic philosophy Venus is called Shukra and connects to goddess Lakshmi. Sometimes Lakshmi is portrayed to live in the heart of god Vishnu – so she is seen as the means through which he can do his work on earth. When we align to the higher wisdom of our heart we aspire to live a life where we contribute to others. And it’s not something to be done on grand stages or big ways – it is through our everyday ordinary gestures, words and hands that we can shape and form love and be better towards others.
In some other depictions, Lakshmi is washing Vishnu’s feet – a gesture that shows her humility and devotion to the service and to the caring itself rather than the “object”. A lot of people may find this uncomfortable as an image – a woman washing men’s feet – but there is caring, tending and love here; because when we love someone, of course our devotion becomes to care for them. It also shows the symbolism of true abundance and wealth – which is the wealth of devotion.
Through all these portrayals it is also as if it gives the divine a purpose – that there is something to be rescued, to be taken care of and supported, that there is something sacred to be protected. Lakshmi is that which is to be protected, yet she is also that which is invincible through her vulnerability.
There is a gentleness to Venus and power in her that I think our world has forgotton a little bit as they usually only speak of her connection to pleasure and the senses – but she is so much more than that. Our world certainly needs more of her tenderness and spiritual wisdom and discernment, and to truly understand the power of vulnerability and sensitivity in its healthy expression.
The world also needs to remember that the real wealth is the wealth of devotion. Chop wood, carry water, feed people, feed hearts with love, joy and compassion. You have hands, use them. You have tongue and lips to speak love, use it. The rest will be given.
While Venus may be a concept far above us to understand or comprehend with our conditioned human minds, once we realize her true expression, we realize we are in God’s heart and arms. This is why in Christian tradition Christ points to the heart – the sacred heart – as this is the initiatory pathway to higher consciousness, this is where the kingdom of heaven is, where the Christ consciousness of pure love always resides and is.
Venus is love. Love comes in various speeds and movements, different shapes and forms. Love unfolds in generosity, tenderness, patience, forgiveness, grace, discernment, gentleness, delicate communication, kindness, compassion, laughter, creativity, and so on. Venus’ evolutionary cycle thus, through our life, is about connecting us to a deeper and more meaningful love, and to be of service to others, to love others, in more meaningful and intentional ways.
The beauty of Venus is in her natural beauty – it is not about the lotions, potions, fillers and filters, injections, botox and whatever – it is about her heart shining, her kindness, her humbleness, her gentleness that melts ice from people’s hearts. It is the kindness we have within us that makes us beautiful. Or rather, it is about our embodied kindness – it is about the embodied love.
Venus is natural beauty because she rules the earth, the soil, the moist soil which makes all seeds bloom as they are and they need to, and all petals of the roses unfold scenting the air – with a fragrance of love and sweetness.
Venus is love, and love is like bread. It needs to be made and remade each morning, made anew. Made with our hearts and hands. We are here to build love, contain love, emit love. Love is a consciousness that needs to be shaped and formed through our every day lips, hands and seemingly ordinary gestures along the circling staircases of our life. This is where and how true beauty always shines.
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Cover art is a beautiful painting by Vicente Romero Redondo, whose art I love. His official website is https://vicenteromero.wordpress.com/ All rights reserved by the artist.
