We can only meet another as deeply as we’ve met ourselves.
One of the most important aspects in astrology and our natal charts are Moon-Venus aspects; these often show how we will be experiencing and receiving love in our life, and our own ability to create and sustain a life of love, harmony and emotional connection. So let’s today dive into the worlds of Moon and Venus, the two goddesses of love, intimacy and our deepest inner selves.
Both our Moon and Venus are inner planets, meaning that they show the landscapes of our inner world and how we perceive and receive and allow and engage with the world outside of us. Our natal Moon rules the deepest part of ourselves, it is the lineage of our soul, it is the home of our heart and our sacred emotional world within which we often find comfort; she shows us how we understand love and relationships and our own ability to connect to someone on a deeper level, express our emotions and be nurturing. As such, our natal Moon is often one of the keys to our happiness, or our ability to experience happiness, bond to someone or something and experience deeper intimacy not just with another person but also with ourselves. Intimacy means into-me-see, which requires vulnerability and willingness to open and let someone truly see us.
Our natal Venus shows us how we can experience pleasure and joy in life, she may show us our love expression and what we seek and desire, and she shows us our sense of self worth and inner abundance. Venus is quite misunderstood though because most people may only look at her surface and interpret her only in the realms of love, for example, what you seek in relationships depending on her sign, house and aspects. She is much deeper than this – Venus is a language, an inner movement, and she connects to the higher spiritual expressions of our senses – to seek and embody something beyond the tangible and experience ourselves more deeply through our engagement with the external world.
Venus, at her essence, is about reciprocity. She isn’t merely one to seek, desire and want to have; she seeks to give and interconnect and interdepend, which is how she becomes a love movement creating and sustaining something; she is the soil and the seeds and the flowers and the aromas.
As a spiritual astrologer, I often describe Venus as a body in a dream state – how it gently moves through the night to put itself into more comfort and balance. This shows us that Venus is that which brings into balance all that isn’t yet. It also shows us that balance is not static, it is dynamic and ever moving.
In relationships, all will move to balance itself; when one partner moves to one extreme, the other will move to the opposite. Like the sea, sometimes one partner will be on a big wave, and the other will the hands holding them with stability; and then vice versa. Through these waves, and how we show up and engage and hold and unhold, we learn what the sea within which we are is.
And so, as Venus is about reciprocity and balance, she asks us to self reflect and gives us an opportunity for a deepening. If you have a water Venus or are attracted to the water signs, are you bringing water to the relationship? Or are you just there to collect water for yourself? Do you pour off of your water into the soil to nurture it, or do you just take water for yourself until the land becomes dry?
If you have a fire Venus, do you encourage, inspire and raise others, or do you seek to take the fire and adoration for yourself and fall into selfishness? How do you nurture other people’s flames?
If you have an earth Venus, how do you bring stability and support other’s need for stability? Are you reliable and reponsible, and how do you show up for others, how do you sustain them through your own sources? How deep and healthy are your roots?
If you have an air Venus, how do you bring clarity and kind wisdom of words, what kind of air do others breathe around you? Do they breathe air of judgment around you; or do you bring them an environment of freedom to express their unique selves? What movement and temperature do you bring; too fast to stay, too cold to breathe, so just flexible enough to nurture both of you?
The higher expression of Venus knows that to receive love it needs to give and be fully engaged, giving and allowing; and there is a self awareness to her, which is why she rules our sense of self worth, self value, and she knows that she is part of all around her, so she is considered of her surrounding. If she keeps all for herself and never gives, the land will dry, other people’s hearts will dry, all will dry and she with them eventually also.
Whatever you wish to receive you must give to others first. If you desire generous, are you generous? If you desire intimacy, are you open and vulnerable; how do you show your heart? Do you love only with the intention to receive?
Natal Moon-Venus Aspects
Aspects between our natal Moon and Venus essentially show us how we experience love and emotional depth, and how willing we are to actually create and sustain relationships; they often show us our ability to love, willingness to learn, and our capacity to feel happy and fulfilled. Aspects in astrology are essentially inner relationships – i.e. relationships between two planets, each of which is an aspect of our inner self.
As both the Moon and Venus are yin planets and feminine spheres, they each deal with how we receive and allow and shape things into our experience. We can only meet another as deeply as we’ve met ourselves, so understanding our inner soils and our inner self are the foundations of deep love and intimacy.
Today I’ll be mainly discussing squares, oppositions, conjunctions, trines and sextiles between the Moon and Venus, but please be mindful that this is only a very general description and does not take into account hard aspects from other planets in your chart. Obviously, a harmonious aspect between Moon and Venus may be not so harmonious if it is receiving Pluto or Neptune or Saturn or Mars, and this may create quite a different expression of the energy.
In general, squares desire of us deep self work as there are inner tensions that manifest through unfulfillment or conflict with other people. Squares often show skipped steps in the process of learning, or past life skipped steps or skipped karmic lessons, so they require more inner work as it may cause the natives to be stuck in perpetual patterns that need more change to snap out of, and as it is harder for the natives to realize it’s their inner self that needs more attention, the external pressures or conflicts may intensify until the native looks within and does the necessary changes. The purpose of a square is to create some inner change in the native, so once the change is made, the tension usually dissolves.
Oppositions too require some deeper inner work, as in this case you may look to the other to receive what you may not feel that you have within you, so it is about learning how to love self and value self. Trines and sextiles are harmonious relationships between planets, which often help in soothing all else in the chart as there is natural flow and understanding of movement, pace, rhythm and temperature. Conjunctions are a marriage, and it depends on who is getting married here – is it a harmonious marriage or a turbulent one.
Conjunctions:
If Moon and Venus are conjunct in your natal chart, this is a most beautiful marriage blessing you with femininity and gentleness, a pleasurable and charming aura, and ability to get along with people, along with creativity and intuition. But you need to be mindful that because of this allowing and sweet energy of yours, you need to set clear boundaries with people, so that you don’t fall into people pleasing nor stay in relationships or friendships which don’t serve your highest good.
Natal Moon Venus conjunction often gifts and blesses the native with the gift of emotional depth, nurturing and creativity. The Moon is our heart and deepest part of us, the most sacred and most private, so here is the gift of the private emotional lover’s cocoon, in which you will move in love and deep intimacy and sweetness. Creativity will be ever expanding through your merging with love, and here intimacy becomes all encompassing, physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual. In turn, your gift to the world is your sweetness and ability to create beauty and understanding, as people feel loved in your presence and safe enough to be themselves, and you beautify all around you, as well as give it dimension and depth.
In relationships, Moon conjunct Venus gives a lot of potential for happiness and fulfillment, because they seek to truly blend and merge with their beloved, and they are open enough to share of themselves and to create the intimacy a relationship desires and seeks. Conjunctions create a lot of focus and devotion into something, so these natives become very passionate about whatever or whomever they love.
There really is nothing bad to say about this, as Moon conjunct Venus is perhaps the sweetest aspect to have in a natal chart, but the only thing is to be mindful of people pleasing tendencies and learning to set boundaries, because their sweet generous loving nature seeks and loves harmony, and this may sometimes make them too adaptable or compromising with people who don’t deserve their kindness and generosity. They can have people take advantage of their kindness and generosity, as Moon conjunct Venus are very generous souls, so they need to be discerning and not be hesitant to walk away from what no longer serves them.
It depends of course on the sign and house this conjunction is happening in, but if it is in a more harmonious, loving and feminine sign such as Cancer, and in a good pleasurable house such as the 3rd house where they will openly share and listen, this can be quite a blessing. Water is about intimacy and love, so naturally, any placement in water in your natal chart will point towards more openness and willing to understand another’s inner emotional worlds also.
On the contrary, if the conjunction is happening in a sign like Capricorn, where the Moon is a bit more closed off, the natives need to be aware of this and make some effort to be more vulnerable in relationships; or if in Aries, then even though both the Moon and Venus are feminine planets, the cardinal fire of the masculine energy Aries will give them a more masculine expression, and especially if they are female, these natives need to be mindful of how they come across others in relationships, as they may be a bit too aggressive, impulsive or forward, and would need to spend some time re-connecting to their feminine energy.
Trines and sextiles:
Trines and sextiles are also harmonious and can show that the native may be open enough to love, share emotionally and invest into the relationship. Trines are essentially part of one element, so it gives more of that one element. Cancer is trine Scorpio, so it pours more water into the emotional expression and it is really important for these natives to have partners with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, and someone who understands their sensitivity and emotional needs.
Sextiles are relationships between two supportive elements, such as water and earth or air and fire. Water nourishes earth and makes for something new to be born, so it’s a very fertile aspect; and air feeds fire to make more of it, so essentially sextiles may often create something new of their bonding. In the case of air and fire sextiles, they usually love being more active – whether mentally or physically, and they need quite a bit of stimulation creatively or with hobbies and to keep things interesting and playful.
While both trines and sextiles are harmonious aspects showing an openness and an ease, they need to be a bit more mindful of becoming lazy, so remembering that Venus, and all love and relationships, are about reciprocity is really important. Conjunctions make natives very focused and devoted to something, while the squares and oppositions give a certain drive even if with challenges, so without much intense focus or inner motivation, the easy flow of the trines and sextiles may sometimes create a need in these natives to be more intentional and self driven for self development or to sustain their relationships; they may need to be more conscious and pay more attention, and may sometimes need some external push for their self development and growth journeys. And similar to the conjunction, they need to have clear boundaries, so that they don’t fall into people pleasing or unhealthy relationships who people who don’t give to them in turn.
Oppositions:
Moon opposite Venus is a harder aspect, and what often happens is that the native looks to other people for validation, self worth and love. As I mentioned, our natal Moon is a very inner part of us, and it’s often even more important than our Sun in the sense that this is how we experience the external world and what our deepest self needs and how it feels. It is kind of like a second “I” because it shows the cave of our heart. And so, you are the Moon seeking Venus (your sense of self worth and to be loved) from the otherness opposite of you.
This often plays out similar to having your natal Venus in your 7th house, which basically shows that you seek your self worth from relationships; you seek to be loved by others, because often you don’t love yourself nor accept who you are. Venus becomes something outside of you, that you may often look towards, desire and reach your hands towards, but the closer you get the more it pulls away pointing the mirror back at you.
For Moon-Venus oppositions, the spiritual lesson is to learn to love themselves and do some inner work diving into their inner conditioning and shadow sides. They often seek to get love from others, because they don’t feel they have it within them; and they seek their own sense of self worth and confidence from others or how others treat them. If the Moon is in a more closed off sign or house, this can often show that they themselves don’t really even open up to another person, and yet project it’s the other person not opening up to them, so it’s hard for them to see or realize or admit it is their own undoing.
Relationships for them become a main lesson sometimes, and they will often be mirrored a lot of their own selves through other people, whether friends, colleagues, family or partners. When they learn to stay rooted in their inner love, they will awaken into more awareness and experience more fulfilling relationships.
Squares:
Squares are often the hardest to deal with, because if with the opposition we may often see it in front of us as a mirror, the squares are inner tensions, coming from our blind spots, and we may not even realize it’s us. As mentioned above, squares are about skipped lessons in learning or skipped karmic steps, so essentially, deep inner work is needed here to untangle themselves from some deeply rooted conditioning and patterns, and re-learn the right way. In the case of Moon and Venus, this is about re-learning what love is, what fulfillment is, how we value ourselves and others, and how we love and nurture and show up for others.
Squares often run very deep and these natives may have a really hard time seeing themselves. The natives have gotten very attached to deeper inner conditioning and patterns that are hard to snap out of, and so the purpose of the square is to infuse some stress to wake them up, to look within, do the inner work and free themselves of what binds them internally as beliefs, limits, etc. The purpose of the square is to bring inner unity to the native, because it shows there are parts within themselves that they do not accept, which is then going to be manifested as rejecting other people’s parts or separating themselves from what their true emotional needs and desires are.
As such, squares often manifest in people’s lives as tension, conflict, and the more the native keeps blaming the other people or situations, the more tense things will become, until the pressure becomes tense enough for the rubber string to snap and awaken the native into self reflection and freedom from inner limitations.
Moon square Venus often manifests as natives who feel constantly dissatisfied. The may often feel like “always something missing”, in the sense that they may have the best relationship but will still find something missing or lacking; they are constantly in some lack or dissatisfied or desire something more. Gratitude is important to learn here, as is humility, because this square can sometimes create a path for selfishness and immaturity, especially emotional immaturity. Every client that I’ve ever had who came to me complaining how horrible their marriage is had this square, and it’s very hard for them to see that it’s actually their own inner tension and conflicts that they need to resolve first.
These natives may often choose partners based on pleasure or immediate gratification or attraction, at the expense of emotional connection and emotional fulfillment. This can make them quite vulnerable to entering into relationships with the wrong partners, and passion can often blind them. It can be hard for them to see the reality of another person because they can’t see their own selves clearly, and what they need to do is be very self honest.
Squares are about inner work. There are no short cut, no quick fixes, and they can become really tense until the native looks within and faces their true self. There is a need for complete self honesty and for understanding their intentions, their motivations, their emotional needs and their patterns. This may often mean going back to childhood and early adolescence and reflecting on their relationship to their feminine energy and mother or mother-like figures, and how they received love, nurturing, and what they believe about their own self and self worth.
The dissatisfactions they often feel in relationships aren’t because of other people, it is because of their own inner tensions and need to resolve their inner self into peace and harmony. They may constantly feel they need another partner or another experience or more beauty and art and pleasure and money, but the reality is that nothing outside of them can fulfill them and make them happy until their face their inner lack and learn to love themselves, as well as learn to accept other people for who they are and be more humble, grateful and appreciative.
Whenever we have hard aspects in a natal chart, we can also look to what is supporting a healing path for them, i.e. look if there is a trine or sextile to the square or opposition. If Jupiter is involved perhaps involving yourself in volunteering can soothe the aspects and open up more compassion, leading to self compassion also. Perhaps you can learn new philosophies or dive into psychology and explore your inner worlds. If you are a woman, as squares create tensions and inner conflicts, in order to re-connect to the feminine energy, which is an energy of ease and flow, you may need to do some feminine energy work and practices to increase your feminine energy.
It is also important to remember that this Moon-Venus square can have the tendency to make you choose experiences or partners based on physical attraction or desire rather than real love, so be mindful, know your emotional needs, and choose wisely. It is important to learn to live in the present moment and be grateful for what you have, and learn to nourish, take care of and love what you already have in your life.
Be mindful of being critical of others or judgmental, and stay in more compassionate and loving speech, nurturing unity rather than separation. The squares often are about separating yourself from yourself and it manifests in your external relationships, so find what you may not be accepting in your own self, where you may hold shame or have had people reject you or make you feel abandoned or suppressed, and heal these parts. The more into inner union you come, the more you will no longer sacrifice your emotional needs, you will mature emotionally and choose wisely, and not enter into direct or indirect ways in which you may be pushing people away or separating yourself from others whether consciously or subconsciously.
For personal readings with me, you are welcome to browse through my Offerings.
For more of my writings, browse through my Art of Love.
If you wish to support me and my work, you may do so by sharing it or donate here. For personal readings with me, you may visit my Offerings.
Your support means so much to me! Thank you wholeheartedly!
Cover art is a film still from Spellbound, 1945, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
